Adventures of 566th
by DoubleEO
Summary: Acher and his boys are tired of getting thrown around from General to General. This is the third transfer. They can't help it that their Generals keep dieing. When they become reassigned they decide they are going to live up to their reputations.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, I re-read my story and realized that my writing has been sloppy. LOL, I didn't really have a timeline for this story until I was on chapter 17. Oops.. :D So now I'm going back and correcting my style (or trying to.) So I'll say sorry in advance for all the notifications you are probably going to get. :D Love you all and thanks to everyone who has been following this story. :D**

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**Kamino- Two months since the first battle of Geonosis.**

"I can't believe we are doing this," Mace Windu grumbled.

"Doing what Mace?" his companion asked.

"Reassigning then to ANOTHER Jedi Knight."

"Well, what else would we do with them? You aren't thinking of terminating them, are you?" she asked with big, worried eyes.

"No, I'm not that heartless Adi. I just feel that this is ridiculous. Everyone says they are trouble and a little… off."

"You can't believe everything you hear, Mace. Surely they aren't THAT bad."

"Then why are they being reassigned?"

"Because the other Jedi Knights they served under are deceased."

"I'm wondering why. None of the other battalions have had issues like this. Maybe they have been reassigned once but NEVER twice."

"You're thinking that there may be something wrong with the battalion?"

"Yes, I'm wondering. I can't help but wonder. Why else would they have gone through two Jedi Knights? Not one, but TWO!"

"I'm wondering that too. Perhaps this new Knight will be good for them."

"Let's hope so." Mace and Adi walked the rest of the way in silence. When they got to the room they watched clones walk two and fro, looking for the markings of the 566th battalion. After a few minutes they heard whooping and yelling and a bunch of clones stormed into the room.

"Nice job man, that droid never stood a chance."

"Not bad yourself, the way you took out that cannon was awesome."

Mace noticed the symbol of the 566th on their armor and looked over at Adi. She noticed it too and gave him a quizzical look, as if to ask, why are they so happy if their general just died? He shrugged not knowing the answer.

"Excuse me Sir, but are you General Windu?" a clone with the symbol of the 566th asked.

"Yes, I am, and you are?"

"Commander Acher, Sir."

"You're the commander of the 566th? Interesting," Mace looked over the group of men who were still yelling and congratulating each other.

"I'm sorry about my men, Sir. They really do miss General Katona but training gets them riled."

"Very well Commander, gather your men up and meet me in the hanger-bay. I'll explain everything then."

"Yes, Sir." Mace and Adi walked away and waited for the clones in the hanger. They got there fairly fast and were silent while they assembled. When they were all in place; Mace began to talk.

"Men, the council is sorry about what happened to your former General. Unfortunately this war does not leave time to grieve. You are being assigned to another General. You will meet General Canachi on Coruscant. You will take the Caiden to Coruscant; it leaves in an hour. You will be on bored by then. You are dismissed." The clones marched toward their sleeping quarters. Mace sighed, "I hope they do better with this Knight."

"I do too, Mace, I do too."

ON THE CAIDEN, IN THEIR QUARTERS

"Man, we're getting reassigned again? I don't know how much more of this reassigning I can take."

"Maybe this Jedi will be different; not as… mean."

"You can forget that; all Jedi are the same, heartless."

"Surely all can't be THAT bad. There must be SOME nice ones."

"Yeah, but other brothers get them, we get stuck with the hard ones."

"I hear General Luminara is good. Master Kenobi too."

"I hear Skywalker is good, reckless but good none-the-less."

"I've heard that Master Ti is good."

"REALLY? But she's on the council."

"Not everyone on the council is heartless; I've heard she's nice too."

"Oh, I don't believe it. Everyone knows Togruta are heartless."

"Ya may think they are but Alpha's under her and he says she actually seems to care."

"Oh well, we know we're not getting her or the others. They already have battalions. I wonder who got us."

"Me too; do you wonder Acher?"

"Yeah, I wonder; but my hopes aren't up."

"Why not?"

"Because my hopes were dashed against the rocks the last two times, that's why. I'm not dumb enough to do that again. We'll probably get someone like the last two. Especially because of our reputation," with this he lowered his head to hide the look of despair on his face. He couldn't let his men see his desperation. They didn't have many men left that were in the group to begin with. The last two Jedi had been all about the mission. If someone was a little behind they were left. It was terrible; his men lived in fear of being that man, the one left behind. He had no hope left; this Jedi was surely going to be just like the last two.

"Hey man, what's wrong? You look down."

"I'm just worried about this transfer. At least the last two Jedi we knew their names. Master Windu didn't even give us his first name. And judging by the last name this one is going to be no different than the others," Acher relplied.

"How did you get that out of the name Canachi?"

"It's the way it's spelled. Haven't you noticed all the Jedi we are assigned have names that end in a vowel."

"That's just a little superstitious."

"It's not superstition, it's true. Besides, why else would Master Windu not give us the first name? It must be Thanatos."

"What kind of name is Thanatos? It doesn't sound that bad."

"It may not sound bad; it's what the name means."

"Well then, what does it mean?"

"It means," the trooper paused for dramatic effect, "death!" The troops jumped back.

"The meaning of a name can't be THAT important. Can it?"

"Of course it can, why did you think I got my name?" Several of the troops nodded their heads wisely.

"Why, what does Acher mean?"

"It means Trouble, exactly what I was. The best thing we can do now is wait and see what this new General is like."


	2. Meeting the General

**Yes, I decided to post again! I have fallen in love with this story and couldn't help it! :D Please Review!**

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**Same day: Coruscant.**

The rest of the trip was spent in silence. They arrived on Coruscant and headed for the Jedi temple. They marveled at how tall it was. Acher walked up to one of the padawans guarding the temple's entrance.

"Excuse me, Master Jedi."

The Nautolan padawan looked up, "Yes?"

"I'm the commander of the 566th battalion," he noticed she blinked and shifted when he mentioned their number. "We are supposed to meet our General somewhere around here. They said the east hanger?"

"I can take you there. Trix, can you watch the temple by yourself for a few minutes? These troopers need to get to the east hanger."

A blond, female human looked up, "Yeah, I can watch it." The Nautolan walked back down the stairs with him and he signaled his men to follow him. They walked in silence until their guide stopped short. Acher ran into her and turned a shade of pink.

"Sorry Sir," he said, glad his helmet kept her from seeing how pink he was.

"That's okay, I stopped short. I should have warned you. This is the east hanger. Your General should already be here."

"Thank you for guiding us."

"No problem, it's nice to take a break. I'm Roseanna by the way. If your ever here and aren't busy I'd like to talk to you."

"Why? No one ever wants to talk to clone troopers."

"Because, you have been all over and I want to hear about your experiences." She walked away humming some song he didn't know. _Odd that she was humming_, he thought, _Nautolans music is normally different, but it sounded like a normal song._ He walked into the hanger with his troops and… didn't see anyone that would qualify as a General. He saw several padawans and some mechanics.

"Maybe he's running late Sir," one of the clones said.

"Maybe, or maybe he decided not to come at all." They stood in silence for several minutes. Then there was some commotion from down the hall. A couple of teenage girls rushed in. He decided neither of them could be their general. Number one, they didn't look old enough to be a Jedi Knight; number two, they were girls, he was pretty sure that their new general would be a man just like the last two.

"I can't believe I'm late Barriss. What if they left? That would be mortifying!"

"Your only late because Master Windu decided to take up his name and be long winded," the one called Barriss smiled in satisfaction when the other girl snickered. "Besides, I'm positive they didn't leave."

"And why do you think that?"

"Because Del, I'm pretty sure that's them." The other girl turned toward where the other girl was looking and her eyes got wider. Acher wondered why it looked like she was staring at them. Perhaps she was here to tell them their general was going to be late.

"Oh," she said. They walked toward them; the one girl was turning pink. "You must be the 566th battalion. I'm your general." Acher's jaw dropped and one of the soldiers who was a little more composed reached his hand out and pushed it shut.

Acher got over his initial shock rather fast, "I'm Commander Acher, at your service."

"Hello, I was hoping to have more time to meet you but the council has informed me we are leaving for Felucia at 1500 (read fifteen hundred). I hope to get to know you better on the ship. Nice to meet you Commander," she said, and then she turned and left. The men shifted and headed toward the ship. They got on the ship and headed for the barracks.

One of the troopers exploded as soon as they were all there, "The General is a woman! No strike that, she's a girl not a woman. What are we going to do?"

"We can't ruff her up like we were planning!"

"Can't we? She looks like she wouldn't hold out a week against our plans. It would be easy to do."

"She doesn't look like she would hold out a day! Are we sure she isn't a padawan?"

"There was no padawan braid; the one next to her had one but she didn't."

"She's awfully young to be a Knight."

"I think we shouldn't go through with it."

"I think we should!"

"Commander?"

"I don't know about you but I refuse to be pushed around! I'm going to give her trouble. Are you with me?"

"YEAH!" they yelled. Then they started planning what they were going to do. This was going to be fun, Acher thought.


	3. Just like we planned

**I love it when people review! That's my favorite thing about fanfic. :D A special thanks to DeathGoddesses and Aurora Lunar 0Love This0 for reviewing! :D Heres the next chap.**

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They had about an hour until the general arrived. Acher was turning the thermostat for the General's quarters down; while he was doing this he randomly thought of the song, "I feel good" by James Brown. He finished doing that and headed out to help another brother fix her door so it would lock after she entered it. It'd be like walking into a freezer. Another brother was "Fixing" her piping so that when she turned on the water for the sink the pipes would burst. Another brother turned the hot water off for the shower. They left the room smirking and chuckling. This was all they could do until she actually got on the ship. They headed out for the training room and waited for her to get there. They didn't have to wait long. She came on board and walked straight to the training room (they had arranged to meet there).

"Hi; what are your names?"

"C7-29931."

"Your names, not numbers; I already know Commander Acher."

"This is: Marksman, Tiger, Grate, Exhaust, Alarm, Net, Base, Fisk, Malo, Breeze, Egare, Feo, Lang, Cato, Jek, Light, Sand, Merly, Sharp, Neon, Fly, Shot, Pin, Clip, Abre, Fletcher, Laurie, Flip, Fuz, Dick, Tre, Fla, Kerr, Topper, Trip, Zipline, Gun, Wooder, Danze, Quru, Ooze, Valve, Growl, Dark, Canto, Deeper, Canner, Bilt, Zeek, Didg, and Log."

"Nice to meet you all. I'm sure this will be the start of something good."

"Not for the reason you think," Ooze whispered to Canto, who almost lost it. The men managed to hold their laughter in until she left. Then they died of laughter.

"Come on guys," Merly said. "I want to see her find out about our little… project." They sneaked down the hall, a hard thing to do for clones wearing full body armor, and waited down a little further from her quarters. They heard the door shut and chuckled to themselves and listened closely.

"Oh, my word! Why is it like a freezer in here?" They heard her try the door, "Oh, great, the door is stuck shut." They heard some other noises and soon the swish of a door opening. Then they heard footsteps moving toward the room where they controlled the thermostat for each room.

"It's almost time to head to the mess. What do ya say we do something to her food?"

"None o' us know done know nothing about food, Fletcher. How we gonna do anything to 'er food?" asked Laurie.

"Flip does; I bet he could do anything to her food. Ain't that right Flip."

"Yeah, that's right. Let's head to the mess and see what we can cook up for our General." They all smiled and headed to the mess. A few minutes later Del walked in and got her food.

"General," Abre called (he's a ventriloquist). Del stood up and walked out, leaving her food there. Flip sneaked over and put some stuff on her food and sneaked back. Del walked back in looking puzzled. She ate her food without a word and walked back to her room. The troops followed a little behind her. When they got close to her quarters they could hear retching. The troops could barely contain their laughter. Things were going as planned. They heard the water for the sink turn on and the pipes burst. They decided to head back to the barracks before they started laughing to loud and the General figured out what was happening. Once in the safety of the barracks they laughed so hard they got tears in their eyes.

"Man that was AWESOME! Way to go Flip," Exhaust yelled.

"Yeah, I don't want to know what you put on her food, but that was amazing!" Dick said.

"Can't wait until she tries to take a shower," Acher said. "She'll freeze to death."

"Yeah; that'll be funny!" They spent most of the rest of that night talking about what they would do the next day. They eventually fell asleep of sheer exhaustion. However, Grate didn't sleep for long; he hadn't been able too since his first mission with General Katona. They were going on a suicide mission and Grate was almost killed. He only survived due to the fact that Flip and Dick drug him along. Almost every time he fell asleep fire and smoke would surround him and he would relive it. He woke at about 0500 and couldn't get back to sleep so he wondered around the ship. There was no noise except the humming of the engines. When he got close to the training room he began hearing humming noises that didn't sound like the normal hum of the engines. He sneaked up to the room quietly and peered in. There was the General fighting an imaginary enemy. _Why is she up this early?_ he wondered. The other generals had never gotten up this early by choice. He walked in the room silently; noticing her eyes were closed. Watching her fight was like watching a dance. If you took away the lightsaber she could be a dancer at a cantina. All too soon the dance was over and she opened her eyes, looked straight at him, and smiled.

"Did you like it?" she asked.

"You knew I was here?" he asked feeling surprised.

"Yes, I sensed you come in."

"Begging your pardon, but why are you here? None of the other Generals got up this early."

"I couldn't sleep, so I figured I'd do something rather than lie there and hope to sleep. Why are you up this early?"

"I couldn't sleep either," he replied.

"Excited for the mission?"

"Yeah," he said, not telling the whole truth.

She smiled wanly, "I know what that's like. I'm going to spar some more. You can stay if you like."

"Might as well work out while I'm here; no sense in wasting time." He worked on his maneuvers until it was 0600.

"I should be going Grate. The rest of men should be getting up soon. I'll see you later." He was surprised she remembered his name.

"See you General; oh and yes." She looked at him quizzically. "You asked me if I liked your fighting." She smiled warmly in return and walked toward her room. He followed to hear if she could comment about the shower water. She turned on the water but didn't yell or do anything that would make him think she realized it was all cold. _Odd_, he thought, _maybe she doesn't feel hot or cold. But then she wouldn't have realized her room was cold._ He dismissed his thoughts and headed back to the barracks.


	4. More Pranks

**Another Chapter uploaded. I'm so proud of myself! Most of the things in here have happened to me... In fact, all of them have. :D That's what happens when you have brothers! Please Review! I hope your loving this as much as I am!**

**P.S. I forgot the Disclaimer so here it is: I DO NOT OWN STAR WARS! I know this surprises all of you. I DO, however, own: Marksman, Tiger, Grate, Exhaust, Alarm, Net, Base, Fisk, Malo, Breeze, Egare, Lang, Cato, Jek, Light, Sandstorm, Merly, Sharp, Neon, Fly, Shot, Pin, Clip, Abre, Fletcher, Laurie, Flip, Fuz, Dick, Tre, Fla, Kerr, Topper, Trip, Zipline, Gun, Wooder, Danze, Auru, Oooz, Valve, Growl, Dark, Canto, Deeper, Canner, Bilt, Zeek, Didg, Log, Acher/Don, Del-Tara, and Shar-Shar.**

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The men were just starting to wake up. He walked over and put on his armor and grabbed his helmet from where he sat it.

"Hey, Grate, where were you?" asked Merly.

"Yeah man, where'd ya go?" asked Net.

"To work out; I couldn't sleep. You'll never guess who was there."

"Ummm, the medical staff?" Kerr asked. He (Grate) shook his head.

"The pilot?" quipped Net. At this all the men laughed. Grate shook his head again.

"We give up; who was it?"

"The General," he replied calmly.

"The GENERAL?" the men chorused questioningly.

"Yes the General. Apparently she couldn't sleep either. She was working out too. She showered by the way but didn't seem to notice the water was ice cold."

"Odd, maybe it was because she worked out and was hot," Acher supplied.

"I didn't think of that."

"Oh well, on with the plans for the day." All the men smiled and looked excited. Over the next few days they didn't have a chance to put their plans in action. They landed soon after they got up and they were busy fighting the other days. By the time they were back on the ship they were too exhausted to pull their pranks. Then they returned to Coruscant and troops aren't allowed in the temple so they didn't have a chance. The next few missions were the same way. They were either too busy to pull pranks or they were working with another Jedi along with their General. They didn't want to arouse suspicion that they were trying to upset their General. Finally, a month and a half later, when they were thinking they were never going to get a chance they were sent on a mission with only their General. This was the chance they had been waiting for. They began putting their plan into motion. Their General went up to the bridge to talk to the admiral and they sneaked into her quarters.

Valve fixed the pipes for the shower so they wouldn't let any water through. Canto loosened the legs on the bed so when she sat on it; it would fall. Pin found her shampoo and decorated the 'fresher with it. Zipline locked the closet shut. Topper hung a bucket of grape juice (that stuff stains like CRAZY!) over the door and hooked it up so when she opened the door it would dump on her. Ooze put her shaving cream all over the drain. Fla drew some Mando'a words he knew on her mirror with a marker. And last but not least Deeper put flour all over the floor and watered it! (It's hard to clean up because it turns the flour into paste.) Then they sneaked back to their quarters and laughed. They decided they should be close when she found out what happened, so they quietly sneaked close to her room and waited. It didn't take long for her to return. They listened closely and were very happy with the result.

"AHHH," she shrieked. Grape Juice poured all over her and into the hall. Then she said something they couldn't understand. They understood some languages (mostly the ones their former generals cursed in) in the galaxy but that one they couldn't figure out. They smiled as the tirade of words flowed as she walked into the 'fresher. Then they heard the bed collapse. They smirked and sneaked off; this was going to be a good mission. She didn't say anything about what happened but they noticed her hair was wet. They ate a quiet dinner and walked back their quarters where they planned what they were going to do next. They arrived on the planet early the next day. They walked almost all day. They were exhausted when they stopped.

"Alright men, we'll stop here for the night. Get some rest; we have a long walk ahead of us."

The men were more than happy to oblige. They set up guards and the rest fell asleep almost immediately. Del walked to the edge of their encampment and looked out into the darkness. She glanced around her and when she found that no one was watching she walked further into the darkness. She walked until she reached a small village. She walked up to the guard and spoke with him. He pointed at a house and she walked to it and knocked.

The door opened and a head popped out, "Del, I wondered when you were coming. Come in, come in."

"Hi, Shar-Shar. How are you?"

"Good; I miss senate life. Well, kinda. I enjoy what I'm doing though."

"Playing with fire? Ya know there is a saying, 'if you play with fire you will wet the bed.' Are you sure you want to take that risk?"

Shar-Shar laughed, "Nice to see this war hasn't affected your sense of humor. I haven't wet the bed yet. You know that's just an old wives tale. What are you here for?"

"You don't think I just came to visit? I'm hurt."

"We're in the middle of a war; I doubt the Jedi order would let you visit."

"Okay, okay, you got me. I need to know if the pass is clear."

"No, there are droids crawling all over that place."

"That's what I thought. They aren't near the mountain range, right?"

"You guessed correctly; they probably figured the pass was more strategic. You know, I'm surprised they let you come. What did you do with your troops?"

"Shar-Shar, ya ain't gotta talk proper. I left 'em at camp."

"Does they know yer gone?"

"No, they doesn't."

They both laughed, "I haven't talked like that in AGES!"

"I know you haven't Shar-Shar that's why I started to talk like that."

Shar-Shar smiled, "I'll tell you all I know about their movements. They send a patrol to the far entrance every hour but not on the hour. On the 15 minute mark. The front entrance is heavily covered. The pass is crawling with droids and a couple of tanks. The back is protected by mines. You'll have to free climb it. The back may ray shielded so you may have to devise another entrance. I believe there is a group of tunnels near there. Word is one of the tunnels lead straight into the heart of the cavern. Mind you, the cavern will be full of heavy machinery. It won't be easy."

Del nodded and looked serious, "Thanks Shar. You're a better informant then the spies we sent out."

Shar cracked a smile, "Don't blame me. When the villagers learned of the attack they sent out scouts to observe the droids movements. I'll see if I can contact the replacements for the scouts currently out there and tell them you are coming so they don't blow your head off."

"Thanks Shar, I owe you one."

"No you don't; this is payback for that one time."

"What one time?"

"The time with the Senator and the bungee cord and..."

"Ohhh, that time," Del interrupted. "We'll call it even, I'd better get back before they notice I'm gone." They said a quiet good-bye and Del headed back. She looked around; the guards were at their posts and everything was calm. She walked over to a rock and sat down. She pulled her knees up to her chest, rested her head on them and sighed. The night was beautiful, just like all the nights here. This was one of the rare planets that had four seasons; spring, summer, fall and winter. Right now it was summer, tomorrow would be even hotter than today was. A perfect day to climb the mountains… NOT! It was going to be rough; oh well, perhaps it would be easier then she remembered. She doubted it; those mountains were not fun to climb in summer… unless you wanted to sweat so much you got lightheaded. She decided to take her own advice and walked to her tent to get ready for bed. She slipped into her sleeping bag and slipped right out again. Those troops, she thought rolling her eyes. She shook out her sleeping bag and watched as various insects and spiders scampered away. _Tomorrow_, she thought, _they are going to put in a snake. Oh well, I'll just have to remember to shake my sleeping bag before I go to bed._


	5. The climb

**Next chapter. This is shorter than I expected. PLEASE REVIEW AND DO MY POLL! A special thanks to DeathGoddesses, Aurora Lunar 0Love This0, and Jaguar101 for reviewing! :D**

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The next morning Acher was shook out of bed by the troop who was guarding. "What's going on?"

"Nothing; the general said to get you guys up" Marksman said. Acher checked the time when he said this.

"It's only 0500; what is she thinking?"

"I don't know but you'd better get your shebs out of bed." Acher groaned and sat up; all the other troops were getting woke up by the guards. He struggled into his armor, grabbed his "bucket" and raced outside to where the men were gathered. They were all standing in front of the general in orderly rows. Acher and the rest of the boys made the last line.

"I know you were thinking that we'd have a shorter walk today but unfortunately this will be as long as yesterdays or longer." All the men groaned at this and Del smiled. "I'm thinking the same thing you are."

"Going through the pass shouldn't take THAT long, General."

"We aren't going through the pass, Fly. My informant says it's crawling with droids. The only other way to get to the cavern is over the mountains. There are sentry's are posted to watch the droids; someone from the village is running ahead to tell them we are coming. We wouldn't want anyone's head blown off," she smiled and the men chuckled. "There isn't anything else to tell you except watch your footing; move out!" The men grabbed the gear they would need for capturing the cavern. Now unless you've been on Kanani you'd have no idea what it looked like. Kanani means beautiful but where they were was nowhere close to looking like that. As they trudged on they were bored to death and so they began talking among themselves about what prank they were planning next.

"We should put a snake in her sleeping bag," said Trip.

"Nah, she'd be expecting that. I say we pour water on her bed."

"Gun, that wouldn't work. We could set a trap." Instantly all the brothers became quiet.

"Go on Dark; what kind of trap?"

"We could rig a trap with her cloak in the center and when she goes to grab it, presto! She'll be hanging in the forest."

"What forest, Dark? We're in the middle of a des…" Canto fell quiet. All of them gaped at the forest surrounding them. This was how Kanani got its name. It was beautiful; there were trees, grass, streams of cool clear water and gorgeous flowers all over. "When do we string her up?" Acher asked.

"After the mission; she won't be expecting it then." They all laughed and talked about how wonderful this prank would be.

"Alright men; this is where the uphill climb will begin. I'll advise you to fill up your canteens here. This mountain climb is going to dehydrate you." The men moved to the water to fill their canteens like Del had said. She too knelt at the stream and filled hers. Then she sat quietly and waited for them to finish. When they did she stood and led them up the trail. It was rough going; there were narrow paths, rock slides, uneven footing, poison snakes, slippery rocks and above all the sun was beating down on them the entire time. By the time they got to where the scouts were it was 2300 and they were exhausted. The only one that didn't seem bothered was Del she looked wide awake. She told them the men already up here would stand guard during the night and that they were dismissed. Then she sat down to talk to the scouts about what they had seen.


	6. The Cavern

**I LOVED writing this. It was relaxing. :D Please do my poll and Review. A special thanks to DeathGoddesses for reviewing! I think I've babbled long enough so here is the story!**

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Grate woke up and looked at his watch; he was surprised to see it say that it was 1100. He was surprised he slept this long; then he was surprised that the General hadn't drug them out of bed at 0500. He got out of bed and shook Acher awake.

"Wha, huh?"

"It's 1100 and the General didn't wake us up!"

"What? Why didn't she?" Acher pulled himself out of bed and hollered at the other men that it was past time they were up. Acher struggled into his armor and hustled outside to find the general. He found her sitting on a rock, deep in thought. He started walking away silently, remembering that the last time he disturbed a general when they were meditating, he and the rest of his men had gotten 'smoked' (Army word for doing so many calisthenics you will get sick to the stomach. Calisthenics is another word for pushups, sit-ups, chin-ups, ect.)

"Don't go, I sense you have a question for me." Acher was shocked she wanted to talk to him.

"Yes Sir; my men and I were wondering why you didn't get us up."

"Acher, I don't want to have to tell you again, I'm a Ma'am not a Sir. To answer your other question, you needed the sleep; besides we aren't storming the cavern today. After our hike all of us are drained of energy. Energy we will need for storming the cavern. You and your men may relax. We will leave for the cavern at 0500 tomorrow. If you sleep through your alarm, you will get a bucket of freezing cold water poured on your head."

After she said that she turned away and closed her eyes. He hovered for a few minutes before he figured out that meant he was dismissed. He went back to where his brothers were waiting and told them what she told him. They were ecstatic; it wasn't every day they could relax. They decided to spend the day pranking the General like they had planned. They found her cloak and made a trap with it. They put itching powder on her fork, put honey in her boots and many other things that would annoy anyone to the point they would freak out and start yelling at them. None of this seemed to annoy her. They pulled their last prank for the day (they put a snake in her sleeping bag and soaked her pillow in water) and went to bed. They had seen all the pranks except the honey in her boots; they wondered why she didn't put them on.

The next morning they were all certain they were up by 0500 so they didn't get a bucket of water on their head. They listened hard to hear her exclaim about her boots but she didn't say a thing. When she arrived she had wet hair that was curly; the only dry part of her hair was her bangs, they were straightened and hanging over her one eye. Acher hadn't noticed before but she had her ears pierced and diamond studs in.

"All right men, I see you're all here. I was really hoping one of you would be late but it looks like you look out for each other. Acher you look preoccupied, are you ready or do we need to wait?"

"No, I am ready, Sir."

She whirled, eyes flashing, he was sure he was gonna get it now. "Alright than **Don**, let's roll."

His eyebrows shot up as he yelled to command, "MOVE OUT!"

His men switched to private channels and started talking, "Don? Where in the Galaxy did she get that? Your names Acher."

"Marksman, he knows what his name is. Maybe she thought you were Don."

"No, she called me Acher yesterday afternoon; so she knows who I am." The men shrugged and kept relatively quiet for the rest of the march. All too soon they were at the cavern; the general held up her hand and they all stopped.

"Don, you and the rest of the boys will create a diversion. I'll take Grate, sneak in and plant the explosives."

"Sir, my name is Acher, not Don."

"I know, but I'm calling you Don."

"May I ask why?"

"Yes, you may." Acher was silent, trying to figure out why she didn't answer him.

Then suddenly he got it, "Why are you calling me Don?"

She smiled as she replied, "Because you call me Sir."

"I don't understand."

"Look up what Don means; it should be clear after that."

Acher, I mean Don, took the troops around to create a diversion. Grate and the general started walking toward the other side of the base.

"General, can I ask you a question?"

"Shoot, just not literally."

He smiled and continued, "Why did you pick me for this mission?"

"Because you walk lightly and don't make much noise; also because you are more like me than you think."

"What do you mean by that?"

"That first day, on the ship; it wasn't just excitement that kept you were awake."

"Well Ma'am, it kind of was."

"You suffer from dreams, no, they're better called nightmares."

"Yes, I do."

"Do you want to tell me what they are about?"

"The first mission with General Katona; it was a suicide mission and he made it clear that anyone who fell behind was going to be left behind. We were almost to the ship when I got it in the leg; I only got out because Flip and Dick drug me out of there. I've been reliving it in my dreams ever since."

"It is a terrible thing."

"You said we're alike General, how?"

"I don't like the term General, just call me Del. I also suffer from 'nightmares'. It was a mission I went on with my master; Grievous tried to kill her and I ended up in the way of his blade. Unless I'm exhausted it's hard to sleep." They reached the back of the cavern then and remained silent. Del slipped into a vent and unlocked the back door. They silently crept in, planted the explosives and crept back out. Then they went to help Don and his crew. They were fighting against heavy resistance, tanks, droidikas, and various other weapons they didn't have. Don and his men were fighting bravely but the droids had the upper hand. She told Grate to get out of there and ran toward Don. Grate watched her move and realized that she was a good runner. He watched as in one smooth movement she unclipped her lightsaber from her belt, ignited it and deflected a bolt headed for her. She told Don to get his men out of there. There was too much fire directed toward them for them to turn and run, so they did it slowly. Grate knew that they would need as much help as they could get; so he ignored the General's order and ran toward them firing his gun as he ran. They were almost out of range when one of the tanks fired straight at them. The General saw it but instead of running she pushed the troops out of the way of the blast and didn't get out of the way herself. Grate saw the explosion pick her up and throw her against a bunch of rocks. He heard Don yell for them to get out of there and saw the troops run. Another time he didn't listen to orders and ran toward the General. Don had run toward her also.

"What are you doing here? I told you to return."

"You can't carry her back yourself very fast and they're going to be shooting at us again soon! So stop protesting and let me help you."

"I thought you didn't like her."

"I didn't before, but after I talked to her today I realized she was as bad as we all thought she would be. Why are you helping her?"

"I don't want her to die before I find out what she called me!" Between the two of them they managed to get her back to camp and to the medics. They were both hoping it was nothing serious.


	7. Chapter 7

**I hate writing chapters like this. :P Their details that you're going to need later. If it gets slow sorry. Special thanks to DeathGoddesses and Aurora Lunar 0Love This0 for reviewing!  


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The medic determined it wasn't anything TOO serious. She had a slight concussion and a bunch of cuts but she should be fine. Grate noticed that Don looked relieved about that. He himself felt relieved; he also felt confused. Why did she push those troops out of the way rather than get out of the way herself? The other Generals would NEVER have done that. He would have to ask her when she woke up.

Don was telling the medic to contact him when she woke up when… she woke up. She sat straight up and inhaled fast. She scared him so bad he almost wet his pants. She remained in the position and relaxed. Don looked over at Grate who looked as scared as he had a few seconds ago.

"General, are you alright?" Don asked.

"Yeah, just a dream. Did the cavern blow?"

"Yup, it was a spectacular explosion. I could see it from here but I'm sure these two didn't see it."

Del raised an eyebrow, "and why was that?"

"They were too busy carrying you back."

"I see; have you looked up your name yet, Don?"

"No Sir, I haven't had the chance."

"Well, hurry up and find out." As Don walked off she turned to Grate, "Grate, why are you named Grate?"

"I have a fear of grates; I read the statistics of how many people fall through and… I don't walk on them."

"I don't either; not because of the statistics though. I don't walk on them because I am often sneaking and they make quite a bit of noise when you walk on them."

"Grate, hey, Grate! Come on over, we need someone to even out the teams." Shot yelled. Grate shot a look at the general, asking if he could. She nodded and he trotted over to where they were playing. For the rest of the day they hung out and played and listened for her to yell about her boots but she didn't. She informed them that night that they would be going back down the mountain the next day. The hike back down was rather fast and they were down by evening. The scouts that had been on the mountain with them went back to their homes and the troops expected to leave the next day. They were surprised when the general approached them the next morning.

"Men, I know you were expecting to leave for the ship today. I'm pleased to tell you… we don't." All the men looked at each other with questioning looks.

"The people of this planet wish to have us stay in thanks for what we did."

"But we only did our jobs, General. It wasn't important."

"But it was, Pin. Not far from the pass is the capitol city of this planet, Nabil. If we hadn't come, the droids would have used the pass to attack the city and then they would be imprisoned. I checked with the council, we may stay for three days. You may do as you wish, even if you want to pull pranks on me."

"You know about that, General?"

"Who else would pull pranks on me, Don? It's not like Trixieanna or Barriss came along."

"I looked up my name General; Don means sir. I still don't get it."

"Because you refuse to call me Ma'am, Del, or Del-Tara and insist on calling me sir; I will return the favor. Unless you really want to be known as trouble for the rest of your life."

"No SIR, I prefer Don to Acher."

"Del, why didn't you say anything about the honey in your boots?"

"You put HONEY in my boots? When did you do that?"

"The day before we attacked; you don't know about it?"

"No, I had no clue."

"Why, you only have one pair."

Del started laughing, in fact, she laughed so hard she started crying and had to lean against a tree.

"General, are you okay?" Don asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. The reason I didn't know about the honey is I was trained by a Togruta." She smiled at the men's confused looks.

"Togruta only wear shoes when they have too."

"I'm still lost General."

"I'm not wearing shoes; I haven't been since we arrived. I only wear them on ships, in the temple, or at the senate. I don't wear them when I'm on a planet."

The men nodded wisely, "That's why you didn't know that we put that in your boots." The men dispersed to do whatever they decided they were doing. Grate had no idea of what he was going to do. Maybe he'd hang out with Don or some of the others.

"You look like you're trying to decide."

"I have no idea of what's on this planet."

"Fun, games, food… why don't you go into the city and find out?" asked Del.

"Maybe I will; are you going that way?"

"I was thinking about it," she said. Grate stood there not making a move.

"Do you want me to walk you to the city?" she asked.

"Hey, Grate; a couple of us are going to the city. Do you want to come?"

"Sure Marksman, I'll come."

"You can come too General."

"Thanks for the offer; I suppose I can walk into town with you… just as long as you don't trip me." All the men laughed.

"Don't worry General, those days are over."

"Unless you get a padawan and then… I'll let you use your imagination."

She laughed, "Alright then, let's go." The walk into town was surprisingly short; the men had thought the town was further away. They were amazed at how quiet the town was; it was after all a capitol!

"It's so quiet; I expected it to be noisy."

"This isn't Coruscant, Dik. You're used to Coruscant, although I must admit it's quieter than I expected."

Just then a bunch of people jumped out and yelled, "THANK YOU!" The men all jumped three feet as confetti was shot into the air and people were yelling and grinning.

"STARS AND GALAXYS! What is going on here?"

"They are very happy that you liberated them so they wanted to do something in return. Plus they heard that you were here. You can't fool them all the time; once they heard your name they were WILD with excitement." said Myrtle.

"But all the men aren't here."

"Ah, but they are; we sent people to your site to bring them here. Sesha is DYING to see you!"

"I bet she is; I'm dying to see her too!"

"Well, don't dilly-dally then!" The men turned to see their general follow someone down a street and turn. They all looked at each other, shrugged and went back to talking to people.

Del followed her down several streets and ended up at the other end of the crowd. Myrtle wondered off and Del looked for Sesha; she spotted her not far looking anxiously into the crowd. Del smirked, crouched lightly, and began sneaking toward Sesha. As she got closer she heard a little of the conversation.

"Who knows where she could be? She could be hanging out with some of troops."

"Your highness I really must protest you being out here. Someone could try to kill you!" the captain of the guard said.

"Oh, let them try; I am in FAR more danger on Coruscant than I am when I'm here!" Del sneaked closer and closer and POUNCED!

"SESHA," she yelled.

"AHH," Sesha's eyes got as big as saucers. When she got over her shock she looked mad, "What did you do that for? You scared me half-to-death! My guards could have shot you! Why must you persist in doing dangerous things?"

"Because it's fun! You should try it some time."

"Oh, never mind why you did it. I'm just glad you're here and safe." Sesha said hugging Del. "Come on, mom and dad want to see you!"

"Oh joy, I can't wait to see the former King and Queen."

"Don't be such a sour lemon! They love you and you know it." Del smiled and they walked back chatting about what they had been doing. Del's men didn't see her until their last day there. They were invited to a parade; the former King and Queen and their children and the Queen would be there. They wondered where Del was; she had said she would be there but they didn't see her. They parade soon began and they forgot to look for Del. It was the most amazing thing they had ever seen. There was a variation of colors and beautiful animals. People dressed in colorful outfits dancing here and there. Then came the former King and Queen and their family; they wore rich colored robes, but they didn't smile like everyone else had. Only their one daughter was smiling. The other looked just like Del; they knew it wasn't her but if you didn't look closely you would have thought it was her. Then came a dragon; that surprised them. Why did they have a dragon in the parade? It wasn't carrying anyone or pulling anything. Then came the Queen; she was dressed in beautiful blue robes. Her hair was down and curly with a flower wreath on top. Her green eyes sparkled… wait a minute her GREEN eyes? Grate looked closer: she had light brown hair that was curly, green eyes that sparkled, her ears were pierced and she had dangles in, she had fair skin; oh man, he thought, it looks just like Del. If she has the same walk it's her; she can't have the same walk. He watched her closely; this was Del. He elbowed Don and told him, Don elbowed Marksman and so on and so forth. Their eyes were nearly popping out of their heads; why was Del dressed up as the queen? It didn't make sense; they figured they would ask her later. The parade was over all too soon and everyone headed back to their homes. The men waited for Del; they saw her and the former King and Queen walking towards them.

"Why didn't you smile? You looked like stone statues that were moving!"

"I didn't realize I wasn't smiling; if I had I would have smiled!" her mother said.

"I suppose that's alright."

"So where are those men that were assigned to you?"

"Right there; these are my men, men these are my parents."

Don's eyebrows shot up three feet, "It's a pleasure to meet you," he said bowing.

"The pleasure's all ours; it's nice to see the troops that keep my daughter safe," her father said. Del covered her mouth with her hand trying to hide her smile. A couple of the men were trying hard not to smile. One of the men started to laugh so he hid it by coughing.

"Oh dear, you must do something for that cough! It wouldn't be good for my daughter's troops to get sick," her mother said.

"It was nice to meet all of you; I'm afraid we must go now," they said good-bye and left. Del sighed and relaxed; she didn't relax long because the Queens daughter, Del's sister, came up.

"Don't worry, I'm off duty. I want to see where you stayed."

"Alright Sesha, I'll take you with me if… you take Shar-Shar back with you."

"It's a deal; I'll take our cousin with me. Why do I get the feeling that Madrid would be horrified I don't have an escort?"

"Because she would be; you do have an escort by the way."

"And that would be?"

"My men; they've escorted me into plenty of battles and back out again."

Sesha couldn't help but laugh, "It was nice to see D.S. again. I miss her when she's not around."

"Del, your middle initial is s?" Don asked.

"No, she wasn't talking about me. She was talking about the dragon in the parade. My middle initial is d."

"Why was there a dragon in the parade?" Tiger asked.

"Dragons here aren't tame; they are wild creatures that would have wrecked the parade. Having a tame dragon there is significant."

"Why is it significant?"

"There is a rule here; anyone who is in the royal family that wishes to be a queen or king must train a dragon."

"Oh, so that was the other King and Queen's dragon."

"Actually no; they were the exception to the rule. No one in the royal family could tame a dragon so since Dad was the firstborn he was king. The dragon is mine; since I trained one, I, unfortunately, get to be queen."

"So you're a queen and a Jedi? How's that possible?"

"Del and I are identical twins; I can sit in for her when she's not there."

"That would explain the resemblance between you two."

"Yes, it would. I trained D.S, Dark Side, as a child here. I finished her training as a youngling."

"Your dragons name is Dark Side? Isn't that odd for a Jedi to name something?" Zipline asked.

Del smiled, "Yes, it is. She looks like night and night is darkness and dark side seemed to fit her."

"Your dragon's a girl?"

"Yes, any other questions?"

"I have one; who all knows about this?" Abre asked.

"Shaak Ti, Trixieanna Montrail, Barriss Offee, Darra Thel-Tanis, Siri Tachi, Roseanna Trayal, Bant Eerin, Aayla Secura, Ferus Olin, I think that's all."

"Didn't Ferus Olin leave the Jedi order because he thought it was his fault that Darra was shot in the shoulder?"

"Yeah, and isn't Master Tachi dead?"

"You asked who knew, yes, and yes."


	8. What Jedi do when Bored

**********My story jumped. It's two months later in time. I'll not be writing for a little over a week. I wish I could but things are going to be busy. :P Hope you enjoy. Please Review and do my Poll! Special thanks to Aurora Lunar 0Love This0 and DeathGoddesses for reviewing!**

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"Del is getting a padawan," Marksman walked into the room and sat down on a chair.

"What? How do you know this? Marksman! Answer me!" Marksman ignored him and flipped through a holo-magazine.

"Marksman, how do you know this?"

"Come on, tell us!"

"What species of padawan? Male or female?"

Don walked over, "Come on Marksman, spill the beans."

"I heard from Cody, who heard it from Rex, who heard it from Ahsoka, who knows the person that will be the general's padawan. I don't know any more than that. I wish I did."

"Yeah, why didn't Del tell us? We've been working with her for three months now!"

"Maybe she doesn't know."

"Nah, that's not possible; they wouldn't assign her a padawan without telling her."

"They did that to Skywalker."

"That was a misunderstanding; she was supposed to be Obi-Wan's padawan but Yoda goofed up. Skywalker then decided he wanted her to be his padawan." Just then Grate walked into the room.

"Hey Grate, did you hear that…" Danze was cut off by Grate.

"Del's getting a padawan? Yeah, I heard."

"How did you hear?"

"Remember the Nautolan padawan that was guarding the temple entrance when we first came?"

"Yeah; what about her?" asked Gun.

"I met her on the back from headquarters. She was headed here so I walked with her."

"Ohhh, you're gonna be in trouble," Fuz said.

"Troops aren't allowed to have relationships with Jedi," Lang supplied.

"Duh; I'm not interested in her. She wanted to know about our adventures. She told me that Del was getting a padawan; all she knows is that this padawan is Ahsoka's age."

"Shh, I think someone's coming." They stopped talking and eavesdropped.

The sound of laughter floated down the hall, "You're kidding me!"

"She wishes she was."

"That is hilarious! No, strike that; that is BEYOND hilarious!"

"Glad someone is enjoying it."

"Awww, lighten up Trix, it could be worse."

"Yeah, you could have hit Master Windu instead of your master," said a voice that rolled her vowels. (For example; Commander would sound like, commonder.)

"Actually that wouldn't be worse; that would be better." All of them laughed again.

"Come on you nuts; my troops are waiting for information on my padawan."

"Ah, it's Del; so the people with her must be her friends."

"Nice work Captain Obvious."

"You're welcome Lieutenant Sarcasm." They all resumed normal bored positions as Del walked closer.

"Hello Captain Obvious," Del said. All the men turned pink.

"These are my friends; Barriss, Roseanna, and Trixieanna." Barriss was a female, Mirialan, just a little shy of 18. He wasn't sure about what color her hair was because she was wearing a blue head cover, she had beautiful blue eyes, and diamond shaped tattoos across her nose. She wore a blue dress that was short-sleeved, a belt around the middle that held her lightsaber and various other items, a blue head cover that wrapped around her neck and a blue cloak. Roseanna was a female, Nautolan, somewhere around 16 to 17. She was dark brown in color and had black eyes that blinked every once in a while. She wore tradition padawan robes: brown pants, tan tunic, a brown belt where her lightsaber was, a padawan braid, and a dark brown cloak that drug on the floor. Trixieanna was a female, human, and a little older than Roseanna. She had light blond hair and sparkling blue eyes. Her outfit wasn't as calm as Barriss or Roseanna's but it wasn't as wild as Ahsoka's. She wore a hot pink top that just barley met her pants and a white camisole under it. She was wearing a pair of blue capris that flattered her, with a white belt that her lightsaber was hanging on. She had a piercing in her nose and her ears were pierced. She wore a silver ball in her nose and hot pink hearts that matched the design on her shirt in her ears, and she had the traditional padawan braid with a hot pink bead on the end. Then the men noticed what Del was wearing. It wasn't her normal style of a brown tunic and dark brown pants. She wore a pair of blue jeans that were rolled up so they were about the length of capris, a green short-sleeved shirt with flowers on it, a brown belt that held two lightsaber hilts, a blue jacket with a double zipper, no shoes, and diamond studs. Don raised an eyebrow at Del and she smiled.

"You're probably wondering what we are doing. We are bored out of our minds. So we thought you might have some ideas of what we should do." Everyone stayed quiet; no one wanted to say what they were thinking. "Come on, none of you have ideas? I really can't believe that. And here I was sure SOMEONE would suggest a cantina." All the men stared at Egare, and he turned bright red. Del laughed, "You're not going to get in trouble for suggesting things. After all, I'm no Master Windu."

The men all laughed, "How about truth or dare?" asked Topper. Del looked over her shoulder to the other girls; Barriss shrugged, Roseanna smiled, and Trixieanna smirked.

"Alright, who wants to start?"

"How about you?" said Trixieanna pointing at Topper.

"Sure; Log, truth or dare?"

"Umm, truth."

"Who was the first girl you kissed?"

Log turned pink, "Topper, I haven't kissed any yet. Ask me tomorrow after I go to see Lana."

"Ohhh, who's Lana?" asked Roseanna (she's the one with the accented voice).

"Well Master Jedi, she's my girlfriend."

"You can call me Rose."

"Same here; except I'm Barriss."

"Call me Trix."

"Okay; if that's what you want. Ooze, truth or dare?"

"Dare, I'm not going to be a softy!"

"Alright, go up to Rex and tell him he's fat." Everyone watched Ooze walk up to Rex.

"Hello Ooze, how are you?"

"Good Rex, how are you?"

"Fine."

"You're fat."

"What?" Rex looked at Ooze incredulously.

"It's a dare."

"Oh, can I play?"

"Sure, come on in."

"Whose turn is it?"

"It's Ooze's turn."

"Rex, truth or dare?"

"Truth, not because I'm afraid but because I feel like being truthful."

"That would be laugh. What was your most embarrassing moment?"

Rex turned red thinking about it. "I thought General Skywalker was a girl."

"What? Are you serious? He doesn't look like a girl," Trix said.

"He did from the back, and someone called him Ani; so I figured he was a girl. Don, truth or dare?"

"Truth, and you can't catch me on any embarrassing moments, I don't have any."

"Do you think General Canachi is hot?" All their jaws dropped open, Del turned pink, Barriss covered her hand with her mouth, Rose giggled, and Trix yelled, "Bout time someone asked someone that!"

"Umm, I'd have to say yes." The room erupted into laughter and Don turned all different shades of pink.

"Barriss, truth or dare?"

"Umm, dare?" she squeaked.

"Well then, I dare you to kiss Commander Cody." Barriss turned green under her tattoos showing that she was embarrassed. But she walked down the hall to where Cody and Bly were chilling, walked up to Cody and kissed him. Then all her confidence left her and she ran back to the other room.

"Wow, I didn't know the Jedi taught people how to kiss!"

"Very funny Don; you're just lucky I have a sense of humor. Trix, truth or dare?"

"Truth, I'm not afraid to answer any question."

"Alright," she said with a look of cunning, "Who was the first person you had a crush on?"

Trix turned RED, "Master Kenobi," she squeaked. The room erupted into another round of laughter.

"Rose, truth or dare?"

"Dare," she said.

"Sing I don't wanna be in love." Del found music for it and Rose sang it without missing a beat and sat down the same color she had been when she stood up.

"You can't break me Trix, you just can't break me. Grate, truth or dare?"

"Truth," he said.

She looked at the ceiling and thought for a few moments. "Who are you in love with?"

"No one right now." And so the game went until the girls had to go. Del was just about to leave when Don remembered he never asked her about her padawan.

"Del, what's your padawan like?"

"You'll have to wait and see, Don. I'm not going to give you any hints," she smiled and walked out, leaving him to wonder what this padawan would be like.


	9. She's delayed

**HI! I'm back. Are you happy? I know I am. For those of you who have no idea what age Ahsoka is supposed to be at this point she is 14, Trixieanna is 16 and Del is 18. Barriss is a year younger than Del. Please Review and do my poll! If you have suggestions that aren't on the poll message me about them! :D Thanks to DeathGoddesses and Aurora Lunar 0Love This0 for reviewing. Thanks to everyone else that read this!**

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Don was nervous; Del's padawan was arriving today. He wasn't sure why he was nervous; Rex's general had a padawan and she was nice. He supposed that it was because he was afraid that this padawan would be like General Katona. He was annoyed at himself for being worried. Del wouldn't let her padawan get away with bullying him and his brothers. He still couldn't help but be nervous though.

His thoughts were interrupted by a voice, "Hello? Are you alive over there?"

"What? Oh...yeah, I'm alive."

"I know that now but I wasn't too sure of that a few seconds ago. I've been talking to you for a few minute and you haven't answered."

"Oh, sorry; I guess I was lost in thought. What did you want?"

"First of all; who are you?

"I'm Don... well, some people call me Acher."

"The commander of the 566th?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Your general sent me to tell you that her padawan was delayed. She won't be here for a few weeks."

"Oh, well that's a relief."

"Why is that?"

"Because I'm nervous about having another Jedi around."

She smiled, "I can see why. Some of them are very intimidating." He noticed when she smiled her baby blue eyes lit up. She was 5' 1", she had red hair that was shoulder length and a fair complexion. She was about 20, he guessed. She wore simple clothes, a soft pink shirt and jeans that flattered her. Her ears were pierced and she was wearing silver earrings with hearts on the end.

Man, she's beautiful, he thought. No wait, snap out of it Don, you can't have a relationship with her. She probably has tons of men hanging around her. Besides there is a 50/50 chance you will die during the next mission. "Thanks for telling me."

"Not a problem; when are you going on your next mission?"

"Tomorrow; which is why Del's padawan was supposed to come today."

"You look anxious."

"Yeah, I am. The ship needs some adjustments made and the mechanic hasn't come yet."

"I see; is the mechanic traveling with you?"

"Yeah, he wants to see the ship in action so he knows what all needs done."

"I'm pretty sure he's here now. Who's the Twi/lek? His daughter?"

"No, he's not married."

"Maybe she's his assistant."

"No, he works alone."

"Hello, is this the caiden?"

"Yes it is. Are you the mechanic?"

"Yes, I am. and this is my assistant."

"I didn't know you had one."

"I didn't; she asked yesterday if she could learn about how to fix a ship. I agreed."

"Do you want me to show you around?"

"No, I know my way around battleships. Thanks for the offer though. Come along."

"I like him; I think he'll do wonders for your ship. Is it called Caiden?"

"Yes."

"What does Caiden mean?"

"Fighter; which is exactly what it is."

"That's a good name for a ship. Do you think your General would mind if I toured it when you get back?"

"I can ask. Who should I say wants to know?"

"Amna Velia. I'll give you my number." Don turned bright red, so she quickly hurried on, "To give your general." He smiled and told her he would be glad to give it to Del. Then they said good-bye. A few hours later he couldn't stop thinking about her.


	10. Shaving

**I'm having SO much fun with this fic! :D Thanks to Aurora Lunar 0Love This0 for reviewing! Please review and do my poll!  
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The next mission was more of a skirmish than a mission. There was a VERY small post of droids on a moon of a VERY small planet. It was an easy victory; they could have done it with only Don and Del. Del was uneasy about the victory. She felt that the separatists were letting them win so they would let their guard down. If anything, she was more alert; she kept an eye on the troops and what missions everyone was going on. They returned to Coruscant a few days later and he gave Del Amni's number and told her Amni's request. She looked shocked when he told her Amni's name but he excused it as just because they didn't normally have people ask if they could tour the ship. To his surprise she called Amni and told her that it was fine for her to tour the ship. She arranged it so she would come the next day. The mechanics would be working on it so it couldn't go anywhere anyway.

"Don, I want you to show Amni the ship."

"But Del, couldn't another troop do it?"

"Yes, but I don't want another troop to do it; I want you to."

"But..."

"No buts," Del interrupted. "You are going to give her a tour of the ship." Don looked like he was about to protest again so she added, "That's an order!"

"I hate it when you pull the authority card on me," he grumbled.

"If you would listen first tim-" she was cut off by Don putting his hand over her mouth.

"No disrespect, but do you ever shut up?"

She pried his hand off her mouth, "No, I don't."

"So what's so important?"

"What do you mean?"

"Normally you would lead the tour yourself."

"It's something that involves you guys but I can't... I won't say anymore."

"Does it involve the Jedi order?"

"No, it's my little secret. You'll find out soon enough." She smiled and walked away leaving him to wonder what in the galaxy she had up her sleeve. After all the sleeves for the Jedi robes were pretty big.

The next day he slept in; Amni wasn't coming until 1300. He got up at 0900 and worked out. Then he headed for the showers. Then he looked in the mirror. He frowned at his grungy appearance; he hadn't shaved since they left for the mission so he had quite the beard. He supposed he should shave; he normally only shaved when he was going to a meeting with the Jedi, the admirals, or the GAR. He told himself he wasn't shaving because he wanted her to like him; he was shaving because he didn't want to look grungy in the hanger. As much as he told himself that deep in his subconscious he knew he was shaving for her. He shaved to the sound of a brother singing in the shower. He finished getting ready and headed for the hanger-bay. He met Rex on the way there. He could tell Rex hadn't had a meeting with anyone superior for a while; his brother had a fairly bushy beard.

"Hello Commander Don, how are you?"

"Fine Captain Rex, how are you?"

"So-so. Where are you going?"

"To the hanger-bay."

"To meet a lady?" Rex wiggled his eyebrows.

"Just because I look nice doesn't mean I'm going to meet someone."

"Stop trying to kid me. We both know you only shave when you're meeting with superiors and I happen to know that there is no superiors in the hanger-bay you are headed for."

"I only shaved because Del asked me to giver her a tour. I'm only doing this for Del."

"Then why didn't Del lead the tour?"

"Why don't you ask her? She won't tell me." Rex could detect hurt in his brothers voice. He knew why; it was hard when superiors who told you everything started keeping secrets.

"Sorry, I didn't know. Cheer up, I'm sure you'll find out soon."

"And how do you know that?"

"If I'm right, and I normally am, she won't keep it a secret for long. She can't stand keeping secrets from you guys anymore than you can stand not hearing secrets."

"I suppose you're right."

"Of course I am! I'd better go. I'm playing poker with Cody, Fives and Echo."

"You got Echo to play poker?"

"Yeah, he's not such a stick in the mud after all." With that Rex and Don headed their separate ways.

When Don got to the hanger-bay she was already there. She was looking around and when she saw him here eyes lit up.

"There you are! I was worried you weren't coming. Del told me you were going to give me a tour."

"Yeah, that's me, your average, ordinary, everyday, tour guide."

"I think it's nice of you to take time to show me around. I've always wanted to see the inside of one." He escorted her onto the ship and showed her around. The tension that had been there at the beginning was gone by the time they were done. They were laughing and talking like they had been friends for years.

"You're kidding; she actually said that?"

"Yes, to the council of all people."

She laughed, "Somehow that doesn't surprise me. Even over the com-link she seemed like the type of person that would tell anyone off."

"She is; I'm pretty sure she'd even tell the Chancellor Palpatine off."

Her smile faded instantly. "What's wrong? Was it something I said?"

She looked around and grabbed his arm yanking him behind a Jedi cruiser. She looked around to be sure no one was watching and then said in a low voice, "I don't trust him."

He was surprised at her words, "Why?"

"He's too honest and caring up front. He strikes me as a kind of man that says one thing to your face and another behind your back. I wouldn't be surprised if he started this war for his own personal gain. After all, it got him emergency powers so he can do anything he wishes to."

"I don't think he's that kind of person. Maybe your wrong."

"I wish I was. Look Don, you have to promise not to repeat a word of anything I'm going to tell you to anyone. Do you promise?" He nodded yes. "I'm wanted by a gang." Her eyes started to fill with tears, "My husband worked for them and I accidentally saw them kill someone. My husband died protecting me and my daughter. The man who ran the gang is just like Chancellor Palpatine; sweet and caring to your face and conniving behind your back. I moved here and sent my daughter to foster care. I don't give my name out often."

"Are you safe? Should you be here? You should change your name."

"I'm safe, of course I should be here. I'm not going to run. The Jedi have been protecting me. Del recognized my name and asked me if everything was okay. I'll be fine; I should go now. Do you have my number still?"

"I gave it to Del but I memorized it by accident."

"Good, call me."

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**Shocking isn't it! She's running from a gang! :D You'll have to wait and see!**


	11. Armor?

**I'm having SO much fun with this fic! :D Thanks to Aurora Lunar 0Love This0 for reviewing! Please review and do my poll!  
**

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"Don, oh Don. **DON!**"

"AHH," Don sat up fast and slammed his head against the bunk above his. "Man, I hate this ship. What do you want?" he snapped at an unsuspecting Tre.

"Del wants us in the training room; in five minutes. You should probably hurry." Don jumped out of bed and struggled with his armor for several minutes. He was hopping down the hallway while pulling on his leg armor. He managed to get it on and be in the training room on time. Del was sitting on a mysterious crate that hadn't been there last night. When he entered she looked up and smiled.

"Nice to see you're on time. I had my doubts," she gave him a killer grin. He wasn't sure why she was doing that but it was scaring him. She had a purely evil smirk on her face, the kind that meant, look out here comes trouble. "I'm sure all of you have heard about my little secret, someway or another. Well, today that secret shall be revealed. I noticed that some of you have issues with your armor." Don shifted uncomfortably, "So I brainstormed with a friend and we came up with this." He felt the men shift and look surprised. It looked like normal clothing except they were all black. How was that going to keep them safe? At least the armor they had on now kept the blasts from being as bad.

"Umm general, are those normal clothes?"

"No, it is armor."

"That's the oddest armor I've ever seen!" Don was appalled that his brothers were being so critical of the general.

"Come up here, Merly. Now touch it," he hesitated. "It's not going to bite you." He reached out and touched it.

He looked surprised, "This doesn't feel like material or plastic." All the brothers crowded and touched it.

"That's because it isn't either."

"Then what is it?"

"Dragon scales."

"Dragon scales?" the men chorused.

"Yes, they happen to be blaster proof."

"Where did you get this from?"

"My home planet; and no, we do not kill dragons for it. We only kill dragons when they attack our villages relentlessly. These scales are from dead dragons. Well, go try them on!" They were semi-tight fitting so the men wore their workout clothes over them. They all exclaimed that they fit well and were comfortable.

"I'll have to take you shopping to get clothes to wear over them." The men all laughed.

"Del, you may not want to do that. I promise I'll behave, but my brothers will be bad!" Laure said. They all laughed because if any of them were going to be bad it would be him. Del dismissed them and they walked to the mess to get something to eat. Grate noticed Del stayed behind and so he stayed too.

"Do you have a question?"

"No," he replied. "Aren't you heading to the mess?"

"And let Flip poison my food again? No way."

"Sorry about that."

"That's alright; you were adjusting. It's not easy being passed around with out your consent. It's even harder to not resent the person over you."

"You've been in a situation like this?" he asked in surprise.

"Yes, I was 14 before I was chosen to be a padawan. And to top it all I wasn't picked by my master. The council picked me for her. We had a rocky start."

"Did it ever get better?"

"Yup," she stopped there and he decided not to push it. "I'm going to go to the mess now to get my food poisoned. Coming?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Because you don't want poisoned," she said. They both laughed and walked toward the mess.

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**Okay guys, for those of you who are dying of curiosity about Del's new padawan. You'll meet her in a couple chapters more! I know I'm cruel. I was going to have her in this one but I got an brilliant idea and I have to delay her arrival. :D**


	12. Shopping

**I'm having SO much fun with this fic! :D Thanks to Aurora Lunar 0Love This0 for reviewing! Please review and do my poll! Ya, know this is pretty sad. I haven't changed the heading for the last two chapters. No one else had reviewed. WAHHHH! Don't worry, I'll still write for you Aurora. LOL  
**

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Don groaned as Amni pulled him into another store. She poked him in the ribs, "Don't look like a dying bantha. Haven't you realized where we are yet?"

He looked up to see that they were in an ice cream shop. He smiled, "You know me too well."

"Of course I do; besides all men love ice cream."

"I'm not like all men; I'm a clone."

She got that flash in her eyes like she always did when she was angry, "You are not JUST a clone. You are Don; a very sweet man that let me drag him all over town shopping. That didn't start complaining until we got in the ninth store. You will never be JUST a clone." He looked up and gave her a smile that made her weak at the knees.

"What kind of ice cream do you want?" he asked.

She smiled, "Vanilla."

"Vanilla? VANILLA? That is SO boreing! You need some spice in your life."

"I have enough spice in my life. After all being chased by a gang is quite spicy." She raised her eyebrows dramaticly and he couldn't help but smile. She had every right to be bitter about her situation but she wasn't. She couldn't help but feel this is where she belonged. "What type are you getting?"

"Peanut butter swirl."

"Really? I didn't know you liked peanut butter."

"I do; do you?"

"Yes, it's especially good with chocolate."

"Really? I've never had it with chocolate."

"I'll have to make some for you."

He raised his eyebrow, "You can cook?"

"Of course; didn't you think that I'd have time while being chased by a gang?"

He laughed, "I didn't think about it."

"I learned how to before that." They got their ice cream and she lead him to a small park and they sat on a bench near the fountain.

"Is yours good?"

"Yeah, is yours?"

"Mm-hmm, do you want a lick?"

"Sure, do you want some of mine?" He nodded yes. They traded cones and he took a tenative lick at her vanilla.

"That was a bite!" he exclaimed.

She grinned at him, "You can have a bite of mine." He smiled back and bit her ice cream. They finished their ice cream fast.

"You're right peanut better swirl tastes good."

"Don't sound so surprised. I'm allowed to be right sometimes."

"Glad to see you've snapped out of your 'I'm just a clone' thinking."

"I haven't completely, I may need to see you again to progress in this radical thinking." She laughed, he was such a sweetie. He smiled and started walking. She caught up to him and slipped her hand into his. He looked down at her hand and then smiled at her. She squeezed his hand and smiled back.


	13. Sneaking and Fighting

**I'm having SO much fun with this fic! :D Thanks to Aurora Lunar 0Love This0 for reviewing! Please review and do my poll! Ya, know this is pretty sad. I haven't changed the heading for the last chapter. No one else had reviewed. WAHHHH! Don't worry, I'll still write for you Aurora. LOL  
**

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When Grate got back he had a splitting headache. Shopping with his brothers was worse than being trampled by a herd of banthas. (Don't ask.) He wondered how Don was taking it. He walked over to Don's quarters to see Don leaving. He sneaked after him. Don was whistling and acting all happy. Grate couldn't figure out why; shopping with his brothers wasn't a happy occasion. He soon found out why Don was so happy. He saw a red-head walk toward Don. They talked for a few minutes before they started walking down the same street they had just shopped at. She drug him into several stores before Don started complaining. Then she took him into an ice cream shop. Grate couldn't figure out why Don consented to go shopping after he had been shopping all morning. They walked out and walked to a park. Then they sat on a bench and ate ice cream. He sneaked closer.

"That was a bite!"

"You can have a bite of mine," she replied sweetly. Grate nodded wisely; Don was in love. He watched them eat the rest of their ice cream and then they stood up. They began walking and she slipped her hand into his. Grate decided he had seen enough. He walked back to the barracks. Everyone else was busy; he didn't know what to do. He normally hung out with Don. Instead he wondered around until he met up with Trix. It didn't take him long to see that she had been crying about something.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, there's a lot of smoke in the air. It makes my eyes water like crazy. How are you?"

"Good, how's being a Jedi?"

"Plenty of fun," she said sarcastically. "How's being a troop?"

"I just LOVE being in the GAR," he replied just as sarcastically.

She grinned, "What are you doing?"

"Nothing, there isn't anything TO do. Don is off with his girl and everyone else has plans. I'll probably just go read."

"That's SO boring! Why don't you do something fun?"

"Like?"

"What do your brothers do for fun?"

"They go to cantinas; to me those aren't fun. I don't get the point of watching women, wearing hardly anything, dance."

"I agree, I never got the point of that either. I have an idea. Go get out of uniform and change into civilian clothes. I'll do the same. Meet me back here when you're done." Before he had a chance to say anything she ran off toward the temple. He headed back and changed. He decided to wear a long-sleeved shirt with his "armor" underneath. Just in case. When he got back she was standing there waiting. She grinned at him, "Nice outfit. We look like normal people out to enjoying a Coruscant evening. Did you eat?" He shook his head, "Neither did I," she said. "I know a place where we can get fairly fast food." She started walking, then realizing he wasn't following she paused, "Well, are you coming?"

"Sure; where is this place."

"Surely you've heard of Dex's diner."

"OH, that's where we're going."

"Mm-hmm, hurry up. I'm starving." They had a nice dinner and after words they took a walk. After a while she began picking up her pace and he realized she was heading somewhere. She headed for a small building. At first he thought it was a cantina but then he realized there weren't any dancing girls. Everyone looked up when they entered.

"Hi Malakay, enjoying a night out?"

"Yep, this is my friend Jamando."

"Want your usual?"

"Yep, one for him too."

"Are you going to stay here or go."

"We'll be in the corner booth."

"Alright."

They walked to the corner booth near the back exit and sat down. "You drink?" he asked. "Aren't you underage?"

"It's not a 'drink'. It's a cream soda."

"A what?"

"It's a type of soda that nowhere else sells. It's non-alcoholic."

"Okay."

"Look Grate, I don't want you to get the wrong impression of me. I may not be a perfect padawan but I don't drink or do drugs. Have you even smelled that stuff? It smells like sweaty socks that were left in a locker for a week. Other people can drink it if they want but I'll keep my distance."

"Sorry, most of my brothers drink."

"In your battalion?"

"No, only one or two do. Most of them agree with your statement."

Their drinks came and Grate took a drink. He must have looked surprised at the sweet taste because she laughed and he looked at her for real. She was beautiful; not just pretty or okay, BEAUTIFUL! He couldn't help but wonder what she would look like in a dress. He also wondered what happened to her nose ring.

"You're wondering about my nose ring."

He looked startled, "How did you know?"

"You're looking at me funny. I decided I didn't really want it. I didn't want it in the first place."

"Then why did you get it?"

"I was mad at my master; I got it to get back at him. It was dumb."

"Well, we all learn from our mistakes."

"I like you Grate. You don't sugar coat things. You say them like they are."

"Everyone says I'm tactless."

"Tactlessness is good. It's better than sugar coating everything." They finished their drinks in silence and she paid for them and they left. The hairs on Grate's neck stood up. Trix must have sensed whatever it was because she grabbed his arm and pulled him to a stop.

"Hello."

"Hi, do I know you?" Trix asked.

"No, but I know you, Trixieanna Montrail."

"You have got the wrong person. My name is Malakay and this is Jamando."

"You can't fool me, I know you are a Jedi and he is a clone."

"I'm telling you; I'm not a Jedi and he is NOT a clone."

"GET THEM BOYS!" Trix grabbed her lightsaber from off her belt and jumped at them. Grate grabbed his blaster off his belt and started firing. Trix was fast with her lightsaber and she deflected all the bolts and sliced up their blasters. They ran off as soon as they saw they were defeated.

"Grate, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"But some bolts got past me."

"Yeah, but my armor wouldn't let them through." Trix grabbed his arm and examined where the bolt had burnt his shirt.

"How didn't..." her voice trailed off.

"Del got us new armor. It's made out of dragon scales."

Trix laughed, "That is SO like Del. Come on let's get out of here before more people try to kill us." They laughed and talked the whole way back.

Trix was about to head for the temple when he grabbed her arm. "What am I supposed to say if they ask me what I did to night?"

"Tell them you were hanging out with a friend."

"What if they ask what friend?"

"Tell them that it is none of their business! If they bug you about it tell them to take it up with me."

"Why did you call me Jamando?"

"It's Jango and Mando combined. It was all I could think of on short notice. Night."

Grate was right they did ask what he did that night but they were satisfied with his answer. He laid in bed that night thinking about her. He wondered if that was what a date was like. Minus the fake names and getting shot at. If it was he could get used to that.


	14. That's her?

**I'm having SO much fun with this fic! :D Thanks to Aurora Lunar 0Love This0 for reviewing! Please review and do my poll! Ya, know this is pretty sad. I haven't changed the heading for the last chapter. No one else had reviewed. WAHHHH! Don't worry, I'll still write for you Aurora. LOL  
**

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Well, here I am. Master thought it might be better this way. I said goodbye to him earlier. Now I'm waiting for the troops. Oh look here they come.

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm Master Canachi's padawan."

"WHAT?"

A few seconds later...

"DEL, DEL!" Del shuddered at the yelling and winced. That was the problem with having really good hearing.

"Laure, stop yelling. I can hear you just fine."

"Del, she, she says she's your padawan."

"Who says?"

"Her!" Deciding that she wasn't going to get any more from him she walked down to where the noise was coming from. She found her soldiers in a yelling match with someone. It was so loud she shrank back to the door way into the hanger-bay. She steeled herself and walked forward, resisting the urge to put her hands over her ears. Finally when she was 5 feet away she whistled a shrill, high pitched whistle.

"What in the galaxy is going on here?"

"She says she's your padawan." Del glanced over at Don who was taking his helmet off. Grate and he were the only two that hadn't been arguing loudly.

"Boys, she is my padawan."

The men looked shocked, "But, but, she's the mechanics helper!"

"Yes, she's a sentinel. They learn every line of work so they can help others. Boys it's time to give you a proper introduction. Men, this is Fire/sspray. Fire/sspray these are the troops."

"Pleased to finally meet you. We were to meet earlier but this was the only time I could tail a mechanic." The men were silent. Fire/sspray was a pinkish twi/lek (The color of Cham Syndulla). Unlike most twi/lek females she had normal ears.

Grate was the first to speak up, "Nice to meet you Fire/sspray. I'm Grate."

"I have a question. Why aren't you wearing armor?"

"This is our armor, I'm Laure."

"That's armor? Did they change the design?"

"No, that was my doing. What they are wearing is blaster proof unlike the armor they used to wear," Del said.

"I can't wait to meet you all."

"Unfortunately it will have to wait. I have to meet with the council and they want you to be there."

"A mission?" she said raising her eyebrow.

"Most likely. Don't be surprised if it is a suicide mission."

"They send you on suicide missions? I thought they only did that to Master Skywalker."

"No, they do it to anyone. Well, not anyone but anyone our age who is good at getting out of sticky situations. Boys, I'll trust you to behave yourselves."

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**Aurora this was for you. :D Happy? I hope so! :D Now you figured it out. If you have read the rest of my stories you will know who this Fire/sspray is.**


	15. Blowing up and second plans

**I'm having SO much fun with this fic! :D Thanks to Aurora Lunar 0Love This0 and Neon Templar for reviewing! Please review and do my poll! SOMEONE ELSE REVIEWED! I'm excited! *Does a little dance* Okay not that I got over that... here's the story.  
**

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Since we got a mission right away Master showed me my quarters on board the Caiden and we took off. Once I got in my quarters the door locked and I couldn't get it open. Someone was playing pranks on me and I had my suspicions. Luckily for me I still had the bag of tools I used helping the mechanic fix the ship. I managed to get the door unlocked and I sneaked down the hall to where the troops slept. Some were still there so I hid and eavesdropped.

"I can't wait for her to find out what we did to her shower."

"I know, I love initiation."

"Inita-what?"

"Initiation, Feo. It means... ummm."

"It is a right of passage into a group or gang. We are initiating her into our group."

"Ohhh, I see. Good thing you read so much Grate, otherwise I'd still be wondering what it meant."

"Ya know, some reading wouldn't hurt you Feo."

"I do read. I just don't read a dictionary."

"Grate doesn't either. He's just that smart."

"Come on guys, the general will be wondering where we are." They walked right past my hiding spot without seeing me. I slipped out of my hiding spot and into their quarters. It was actually clean! I was surprised. The clones who had worked under my former master had NEVER cleaned their quarters. I was impressed. Oh well, time to play a couple of pranks back. After I rigged their room I calmly walked out and headed for the mess. I kept a careful eye on my food. I wasn't paranoid but if they pulled pranks they could very well do something to my food. After all, they are a little more wild than Ahsoka and SHE did something to my food once. Revenge for putting a bucket of water over her door. I absolutely LOVE pulling pranks. I wonder how long we'll play pranks on each other.

"Fire/sspray, come here please."

"Yes, master?"

"We need a strategy."

"You're asking me to help you with a strategy?"

"Yes, there is a small outpost of droids. What is the best way to destroy them?"

"I don't know."

"Think."

"I am."

"Obviously not hard enough. It's rather obvious."

"Use a diversion?"

"That's the obvious way. Now, what other way."

"Umm, direct assault," I felt pretty good considering she hadn't gotten mad. If I would have suggested anything to my former master he would have said I didn't know what I was talking about.

"There is still another way," she said with a smile.

I thought for a minute, "I don't know."

"I suppose I'll give this one to you. I could have you sneak in and destroy the base from the inside out. Do you think you could?"

"I could try."

Her eyes lowered, "There is no try, do or do not. Can you?"

I shifted, "I don't think so. Perhaps if I had done it before."

"Very well."

"What type of attack are we doing? Front assault?"

"Sneak attack."

"But.."

"I'm going with you. We will land the ship far enough away that they won't be able to catch it on their scanners. Then you and I will sneak into the base and destroy it." I stayed in my quarters the rest of the day. I was pleased to hear the troops yell about my pranks. It made me feel good. This sneaking business had me worried. That's what happened before. My master and I had sneaked into a base and tried to destroy it from the inside. Only I wasn't careful and set off an alarm. My master died that day and I had never been able to sneak since.

We landed just after dawn. Acher, who the entire company calls Don, was uneasy about us going alone. Master calmly told him nothing would happen and to stay out of sight. I didn't know how she could be calm. I had a million butterfly's in my stomach. We slipped into the forest silently. It surprised me how silent she was. Most humans didn't know how to sneak. They clomped around but she was silent. We got to the vent that was our entrance and the butterfly's in my stomach multiplied. She must have sensed my unease because she turned, caught my hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"Are you ready?" she whispered.

"No," I whispered back. She smiled and I saw a slight bit of fear in her eyes but it was soon gone. She removed the vent silently and we crawled through the vent system. We were almost there when, dun, dun, dun; the alarm went off. I jumped and hit my head.

"How did they know we were here?"

"They have a metal detector. It detected my comlink. We'll have to split up."

"WHAT?"

"We can't stay together. I'll distract them and you set the charges. Once you set them run."

"What about you? You won't know when to run."

"I'll be fine." I broke then, everything emotion I had been holding inside since my masters death crashed down on me. I cried, HARD. She looked surprised until I explained.

"That's what my master said. We were on a mission like this one and I accidentally hit the alarm button and he said we needed to split up and he would be fine. But he wasn't fine and I'm afraid you won't be either." The next thing I knew her arms were around me.

"I'm not him. I've been in a million tight spots before. I NEED you to set the alarms. When I get back we'll talk more."

"What if you don't get back?" I asked looking at the floor. She reached out and tipped my chin upward so I was looking into her eyes.

"I will be back. There is no doubt in my mind. If you focus on dying than you will. Don't focus on me, focus on your mission." I saw in her eyes that she was not JUST a Jedi or JUST a girl. She was a warrior with an iron will and a spirit that could not be broken.

"Very well, I shall do as you wish."

"Meet me in the woods." Then she left and I hurried toward the power room. That would be the best place to blow. I waited for the droids to do their check and leave then I popped the grate off. I clamped my mouth shut so I wouldn't have TONS of holes in my tongue and jumped down. I set the charges then I left quickly. I crawled as fast as I could through the duct-work and ran, hoping that master had gotten out. I was almost at the ship when it blew. The explosion knocked me off my feet. I didn't think I had set THAT many charges. Maybe I had, I didn't know and I didn't care. All I cared about right then was finding out if master was still alive.

Don raced out of the ship, "What in blazes is going on?" Then he saw me, "Where's Del?"

"We split up, I set the charges, she distracted them."

"How many charges did you set?"

"I don't know." I handed him my backpack and he counted them.

"You only set one? What did you blow?"

"The power center."

"Goodness; glad you didn't set anymore."

"Well, that was exciting." We both turned at the same time to see my master walk up, dripping wet.

"What happened to you?" Don asked.

"I had to get away from an explosion. I left right before it blew."

"How did you find water?" I asked her.

"I was looking for it on the way in."

"You planned on jumping in water?"

"You should always have a backup plan." Then she shook, and guess what happened when she shook. You got it, she showered Don and I with water.

Then she smiled, "You two looked a little hot." I was going to enjoy learning under her, I thought as I walked into my room. I looked around at the wreck that had been my room and did the sensible thing. I yelled at the top of my lungs, "**DON!**"


	16. Missions

**I'm having SO much fun with this fic! :D Thanks to Neon Templar and MandoJedi for reviewing! Please review and do my poll! I live on reviews! :D  
**

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A month later...

For the ninth time that day Del hit the wall with her head.

"The council is going to wonder why you have a bunch of bruises."

Del rolled her eyes at Barriss and spoke into her comlink. "You two are old enough to resolve your differances. If you want to pull pranks on each other than do. But if you can't handle someone else pulling pranks on you don't pull pranks on them. Capiche?"

"Yes master."

"Yes sir."

"They're STILL playing pranks on each other?"

"Yes; they just can't seem to stop. Neither of them want pranks played on them but they love playing pranks on each other. It's getting ridiculous."

"Why?"

"Get a padawan that won't give up no matter what and you'll understand, Barriss."

Barriss laughed, "I just became a knight. I'm definitely NOT ready for a padawan."

"Besides they both wine whenever they get a prank played on them."

Barriss smiled, "Maybe they'll get over it."

"That's like hoping Master Windu will smile at Anakin."

Barriss laughed, "You are absolutely right. Are you going to ban them from playing pranks?"

"I may have too. I'd better go, the council is in DIRE need of me."

"Good luck."

"I'll need it." Del walked over to the turbolift and got in. They hadn't asked Fire/sspray to come this time and Del was grateful. She wasn't sure she could get through a meeting without strangling the petite twi/lek. For such a small girl she could certainly cause a lot of trouble. Then she smiled, if she had brought her, she would have drove the council nuts. Maybe Shaak was back rather than in hologram form. Nah, she couldn't be; she never was.

Del walked into the room and bowed to the masters.

Master Yoda spoke first, "Trouble there is. Attacked the separatists have."

Master Windu spoke next, "Not a small bunch. They must have sent half of their army there."

Then Master Mundi spoke, "Which would explain why everywhere else was practically unprotected."

Del bit her lip to not yell, TOLD YOU! Instead she looked over at Kit Fisto and exchanged a look with him that meant, why don't they ever listen to me? He struggled to keep from smiling.

"We are sending you two and your apprentice there to deal with them. If you need more help call us."

Del didn't remember them saying who was going with her. She was about to ask when the council dismissed. The holograms turned off and the members left Del standing there looking confused. Kit walked over and chuckled at her facial expression.

"You look rather funny."

"I'm trying to figure out what I missed while I was looking at you."

"Nothing, they didn't say anything."

"They didn't? I missed something."

"No, they missed something. They didn't tell you anything."

"Oh, that's a relief I thought I missed something. Can I have my lightsaber back now?"

Kit turned, "Your lightsaber? I don't have it I only have mine."

"Actually you don't have yours you have mine." Kit looked down at his belt and then at her. His lightsaber was in her hand.

"If you would like it back, you have to give me mine."

"Fine," he pulled her lightsaber out of the sleeve of his cloak and handed it to her and in turn she handed him his. He started to walk out of the room when she called after him.

"Who am I going with?"

"Me," said a soft, familiar voice.

"SHAAK!" she squealed.

"What, no hug?" Shaak put on her pouting face. It didn't remain there for long. Shaak wrapped Del in a bear hug.

"I thought you were a hologram."

"I'm not."

"Where are we going?"

"They were terribly distracted today. We are going to Shili."


	17. Noise

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Del and Shaak were talking about their missions and all that fun stuff. Then they arrived at where the troops stayed. Del opened the door and jumped back. Shaak did the same and yelped. The noise was astounding. There was music being blared the sound of troops yelling over the music and two voices arguing. Shaak raised an eyebrow (meaning, are we going in THERE?)

Del shook her head and closed the door.

"Yow, it's louder than it was last time. Shaak you may want to cover your ears." Shaak did and Del opened the door and whistled a high pitched whistle. There was the sound of troops yelping at the noise but the one that Del homed in on was the sound of troops grabbing their gear and running toward the door. Del closed the door and moved back.

"Del, what was that?"

"That's how I call my troops if it's noisy."

"Let me guess, it's noisy often."

"Yup, you've got it." The troops burst through the door along with Fire/sspray. She was glaring at Don and he was glaring at her.

"Boys, we're going on a mission to Shili."

"Shili, Del? Isn't that where the Togrutas live?"

"Very observant Zeek, you been reading up on planets?"

"A little."

"Why would they send us there?" asked Tre

"Why do they send us anywhere? There are seps there and we fight seps."

"I know that, Kerr. But they mostly send the people who know the planet people to the planet."

"They are."

"You know Shili, Del?"

"Yes, and so does the person going with us." Their attention turned to the Togruta standing there.

She smiled lightly and nodded. They stood there before deciding the polite thing to do was nod back. Shaak covered her mouth with her hand to keep from laughing.

"We will be leaving as soon as Master Ti gets her troops together." They nodded and Del and Shaak left. "You were almost dying of laughter back there, why?"

"When you glanced over at your padawan the men nodded back and it looked like they were trying to do the wave. The front row nodded then the rest followed suit. It looked SO funny."

"I bet it did. How long will it take you to get Alpha and the boys together?"

"Not long."

"Alright, I'll go pack."


	18. The start

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Del walked to where they were supposed to meet and joined Shaak and the 566th. "Shaak are your troops coming?" asked Del.

"Of course they are. They just have to gather their gear." Shaak looked at the green astromech coming. It beeped hello.

"Shaak, meet R2D3. D3 meet Shaak." The astromech beeped again.

"Hello little one." The astromech beeped indignantly. Saying "I may be little but I can connect to a computer and talk to it and have it answer. Can you?"

"D3!" Del exclaimed.

"It has personality just like Skywalkers astromech."

"Yes, except I've had D3 longer."

"Is this what you used to tinker around with in your room?"

"Yes."

"I must say, he's quite the character."

"She master. She gets rather touchy when you call her a him."

"Sorry, hard to tell with her color."

"True, come along D3. Let's get the Caiden ready. Don; make sure Alpha and his men find where they are staying."

"Yes sir," he said, just to bother her. She gave him a killer look and left with Shaak and D3. Alpha walked up just after they left.

"Sorry to keep you waiting so long, Acher. I didn't think we'd be that long."

"I know how long it takes to put that armor on. Don't apologize for something you can't help. If you'll follow me I'll show you and your men where your staying. Oh, and for the record, the names Don."

"But the GAR nicknamed you Acher."

"Yeah, but my general didn't like the name. She called me Don and it stuck."

"I see."

"No, you don't. You think she's calling that without my consent. She's not. For the record, I like this name. Your men will stay here."

Alpha signaled his men to unload their gear and get settled and followed Don to the commanders quarters. Don opened the door and was immediately soaked with water.

"Just a gift from the commander. Make yourself at home. I'll be right back." Don left and tried to locate Fire/sspray. He sensed he in the training room so he headed straight for her. Within a few moments they were in an all out yelling match. It was so loud it traveled through the venting system to the bridge where Del was talking to the admiral. She left and headed straight for the them using the sound to locate them. When she got to the floor she whistled and they stopped fighting. She didn't let them explain.

"Listen you two, you will stop pranking each other once and for all. If you don't the consequences will be dire." On that happy note she left. Don watched the formerly headstrong Twi/lek fade and the normal girl return.

"I'm sorry Don, I was being petty. I should have stopped this long ago. Will you forgive me?"

"On one condition... you forgive me. I'm the one that is supposed to be the adult." They two made up and confessed that they were scared stiff when Del had come in. Fire/sspray left to find food and he sat by himself.

He was about to go look for food when a voice said, "You look lonely."

Don's head shot up, "Amni? What are you doing here? This is a mission. It's dangerous."

"Don't worry. I'm acting as the admiral's assistant. And besides you should know by now I'm capable of taking care of myself."

"That's what I like about you. On another note, I'm starving, how about we eat?"

"Sounds good to me." They walked hand in hand to the mess and held hands on the bench.


	19. Dreams and teams

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Everyone gathered in the training room.

"The plan is as follows: the Caiden and the other ships would attack the other ships at dawn. The Jedi and most of the troops would sneak down to the planet on Laat/i's in the dark. They would free the Tano village (The one closest to the drop point) and slowly free the other villages. While, of course, staying clear of Akul."

One of the troops asked, "What's an Akul?"

"A predator with sharp teeth and long claws. They will not hesitate to kill." This made everyone feel real confident about the mission. "Everyone get some sleep; we leave at 0500."

Everyone went to bed early. Del slept for a while but then... _that _dream came again.

_She was running through the forest. Her troops weren't far behind. Then she felt it. The searing pain of friends dying. Her troops tensed; Don shook his head and they relaxed. She was sitting on the ground with her head in her hands. Tiger knelt beside her, "Del? We need to go now."_

_She looked up slowly with sad, green eyes, "They gave you an order. Aren't you going to carry it out?"_

_Don walked up, "We are loyal to you... and only you. He has nothing on us. Come, another patrol will be here soon." They ran deeper in the forest and the scene changed. There were two troops without their armor and a Twi'lek in Jedi robes. She didn't recognize the troops but she had seen them before in this dream._

_"They're gone," the Twi'lek said._

_"Where to now?"_

_"Hiding, Pipes. Hiding." Then the dream changed again and she found herself in the temple watching it be destroyed. She saw Shaak and a dark shape she recognized but couldn't remember who it was. They were talking but she couldn't hear what they were saying. It apparently wasn't a friendly conversation because Shaak barred her teeth and let her fangs show. The dark shape pulled out a blue lightsaber but Del could feel the dark side radiating off him. Shaak's eyes flared a deep purple, the color they were when she was angry. She pulled her lightsaber and attacked. _

Del woke up too wound up to sleep. It was soon time for everyone else to get up. The troops got ready silently and quickly. Del could sense the unease radiating off her men. Grate walked over and stood next to her.

"Nervous," she asked him.

"Nah, just wished I could have said bye to some people."

"Does some people include Trix?"

"Yep, she's one of them. Did she tell you we almost got killed?"

"Yep, she also wanted to know why you didn't get hurt from that shot." They exchanged a look and laughed. "It's almost 0500. I'm going to tell the rest of my men who they're going with."

"Who am I going with?"

"Laurie, Marly, Egare, Flip, Light, Sand, Marksman and Ooze. Think you can handle that bunch?"

"Sure."

"Good, keep an eye out for sniper positions."

"For Marksman?"

"And for enemy snipers."

"Stay safe General."

"You too Grate." Del walked off and Grate thought about his group. Laurie is a trouble maker, Egare is a goof and Ooze is a little... odd. They could cause a little trouble. Flip is good, Light is a sharpshooter, and Marksman is a sniper. They have good heads on their shoulders. Sand is shy and quiet but he has good aim and isn't going to cause trouble. Merly could see farther than any other troop and he is also loyal. Together they should be able to keep each other alive. He smiled and waited for the rest of his assault team to find him.


	20. Where'd he go?

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Del listened to the hum of the Laat/i and wondered how the mission would go. Her group included, Don, Wooder, Abre, Fire'sspray and several of Shaak's troops. Shaak had been on the first Laat/i to leave. They would travel through the forest and meet them at one of the many Ty villages. Del was on the third to leave. Her group and two others were going to surround the Tano tribe's land and remove the separatists. The lights of the Laat/i were off so no one would see them coming. They flew low and everyone jumped off. Fire'sspray and Don were the first two off so they checked the surrounding land for patrols and droids. Don returned quickly reporting that he hadn't seen anything. Fire'sspray took longer and reported that she had seen a tank patrolling the land not far from the boarder of the Tano land. "It should return to the village soon."

"Let's take down that tank," Abre suggested. "Then we could use it to our advantage in the fight ahead."

"I agree; if we don't we will have more trouble freeing them."

Fire'sspray led the way to the tank and Del crept up to it. She cut a hole in the side of it and destroyed the droids inside before they could call for help. She climbed out and asked the troops if they would operate it. Wooder and Dac (one of Shaak's troops) said they would and took it toward the village. Everyone held their breath as they entered the village but no one noticed that there weren't droids in it. Del and the others began taking the droids out one by one. Soon the droids noticed but it was too late for them to fight back. The noise woke the villagers and they were surprised that they weren't captives anymore. Del's group and the other two removed the Togruta's bonds. A female Togruta (their leader) thanked them and several young men offered to help them. To Don's confusion, Del accepted.

"Del, why did you accept their help? They aren't trained to fight separatists like we are."

"I know, but they are trained to avoid and fight Akul." Del talked with the leader of the tribe, who said her name was Karavi Tano. She told Del that the separatists headquarters were in the capitol city of Corvala. That didn't surprise Del at all. What did surprise Del was that Karavi told her they had moved the entire Ti tribe to the base of the city. The movement of the tribe was a safety measure... the separatists knew the Jedi wouldn't risk the tribes safety. Killjoy, Del thought, we have to figure out a way to get rid of the seps without the Togruta getting hurt.

Then she walked over to talk to one of the young men who offered to join them. "Hi; what's your name?"

"Jarvo; what's yours?"

"Del; do you know a fast way to the Ty tribe's land?"

"Sure, one of my best friends live there."

"Can you lead us there?"

"Sure, let me get the rest of the guys together and we'll lead you."

"Thanks, Jarvo." Del gathered the groups and got them ready to go. Jarvo and his friends led them through the forest to get to the Ty tribe's land. They got there and found the other groups waiting. Shaak was standing there and staring into space. Jarvo and the rest of the men from the Tano tribe hung back, as if Shaak had some type of disease that they didn't want to get. The Tano and Ti tribes hadn't gotten along for, well, forever.

Shaak noticed Del, "Are you ready?"

"I am if you are."

"I am."

Alarm and Exhaust rushed up, "Where's Grate?"

"You mean he isn't here?"

"No, he didn't show up and neither did his group."

"Oh, killjoy, where's Grate?"

* * *

**Another Cliffie. I'm SO bad. Karavi Tano isn't mine. She isn't Lucas's either. She is MindSprings. Read her story the Dance of the Akul. It's REALLY good! :D**


	21. Ouch

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The first thing Grate felt was PAIN! He moaned and shifted then he yelled. He heard someone else groan. His head was killing him. Where was he? He looked around and realized he was in the Laat/i. Funny thing, he thought, it doesn't feel like it's in motion. Why was he on the floor? He must have let go, fallen and hit his head. Everyone else was probably trying not to die of laughter at him. But why wasn't Merly? Everyone else was afraid to because he was a lieutenant. Merly was his best friend, he wouldn't hesitate to die of laughter. It was pitch black everywhere. Why aren't the emergency lights on? Wait a minute, we aren't in motion, the lights aren't on, Merly isn't laughing, I'm on the floor, and I'm still in the Laat/i. This all lead up to a very bad thing... they crashed. He moved his left hand and ran it through his hair. It was longer than it should have been but he liked it a little longer. He tried to move his right hand but it was pinned by something. His eyes adjusted and he realized another brother was lying on it. He looked closer and realized it was Ooze.

He reached over and shook Ooze, "Ooze, come on man. It's time for you to get up. Ooze? Ooze! Come on this isn't funny."

Ooze groaned and stirred, "Wha'da want Grate?"

"I want you to get off my arm. Our Laat/i crashed. We need to get to the Ty village."

"Oh, sorry," Ooze shifted off his arm and reached over and shook Sand. Sand woke up with a yell which in turn scared Ooze who jumped on top of Grate who yelped.

"Sand, what's wrong?"

"I hurt all over and there is something wet on me. Either I'm bleeding or someone drools in their sleep." Grate smiled at Sand trying to make his situation humorous. In truth he realized his injury could slow down the rest of the men and he might have to stay behind. Which normally means death.

"Let's get everyone else awake." Everyone set about waking everyone else. Some yelled and others just moaned. Finally they were all awake.

"The Laat/i is standing up. This is good. How is everyone?"

"Well, I landed on something soft so I'm not hurt," Egare quipped.

"Yeah, me," Flip said. "I have a fairly deep cut above my eye but other than that and a bunch of bruises I'm fine."

"I sprained my leg but I'll be fine," Marksman said.

"I'm not hurt, just bruised," Ooze said.

"Lucky you," Light muttered, "I'm pretty sure I broke a couple of fingers on my right hand." Grate grimaced, this was the worse news so far. A sharpshooter that had broken fingers on his right hand. Not good at all.

"My visions a little blurry but I'll be fine," Laurie said.

"I've got a splitting headache and a bunch of cuts," Merly said.

"I sprained by gun hand but I can shoot with my left," Grate said. "What about Sand? Will he be okay?"

Flip, who was pretty good at patching brothers up when a medic wasn't available was bent over his brother. "He lost a lot of blood, I don't know."

"Why don't you let me be the judge of that? Help me up, will ya?" Light reached out to give Sand a hand and pulled him up. Sand winced but walked across the floor with a slight limp. "I'll be okay, what about the pilot?" Grate walked to the cockpit and unstrapped the unconscious brother and slightly shook him awake.

"Hey, bro; you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm alright. We hit a group of trees. I'm Adish. It means fire."

"I'm Grate and these are, Light, Sand, Laurie, Merly, Marksman, Ooze, Egare, Flip. Guys, this is Adish."

"I'm afraid my ship is totaled, I'll have to come with you."

"Can you shoot?"

"Yup."

"Well then we have no objections. Welcome aboard, Adish." They salvaged what they could of the ship and headed for the Ty village. They moved fast, watching for Akul and droids. They arrived at the Ty village to find... nothing. There wasn't anyone there.

"Oh great, they left us."

"Don't worry, they couldn't have gone far. Perhaps they'll come back." They all sat down to wait for Del and the rest of the men. Sand caught Grate's hand, "I'm going to lie down, wake me when they come."

"Sure," Grate said and went to pull his hand away.

Sand gripped his hand tighter and looked at him with chocolate brown eyes, "Please, don't let them leave me."

"I won't, don't worry, I WILL make sure they don't leave you." Sand relaxed, trusting his brothers word, and let go of Grates hand, curled up into a ball and fell asleep. Grate and several others watched for Akul and anyone that might be coming. Please come back general, he thought, PLEASE. My brothers need you.


	22. Found

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After Grate didn't show up they decided they would take the village without him. Everyone got ready except Del, she stood their watching the forest. Hoping that they would appear.

"Are you okay?" Shaak asked.

"I'm just worried. Grate is always on time. My troops are different from others."

"I know, just from spending one day with them I can see that they highly respect you. They may not hesitate to tell you if they think you're doing something wrong but they hold you in the highest respect. Even thought the council doesn't like them at all they are some of the best troops I have ever seen."

"Thanks, I guess we should go now." The battle wasn't as big so it didn't take as long as the other battle. They Ty tribe didn't own as much land as the Tano tribe. When the battle was over Del went back to where they had met to get her missing lightsaber. She noticed in the middle of the battle that her second one was gone. She got there and saw... TROOPS!

"GRATE?" she yelled. Grate was instantly grabbed in a bear hug by an enthusiastic 19 year, old who happened to be his general.

"Del, I can't breathe." She released him and he took a deep breath. "I thought you weren't coming back."

"I'll always come back for you guys. You should know by now I wouldn't leave you!" She gave everyone except Sand a hug. Then she knelt beside him.

"Hey, what happened to you?"

"The ship crashed, we brought the pilot with us."

"I noticed; stay still, this may hurt." She lightly set her hand on his shoulder and pain raced through him. But as soon as the pain came it was gone and he instead of it he felt warmth, and comfort. She soon removed her hand but the feeling stayed.

"What was that?"

"Force healing. I can do more once we settle tonight. I learned enough to get by." They moved on and liberated the rest of the tribes except the Ti tribe. They would wait until tomorrow before approaching the tribe. The troops insisted they weren't tired but Del could tell they were exhausted. Don hid his relief when she said they would rest but she could feel the rest of the troops relax. Tomorrow, they would find a way to take out the seps, tomorrow.


	23. Attack!

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Del slept in a little. All the men were shocked. They were sure they were going to rescue the village and get rid of the seps today. When she did get up Don asked her about it.

"No, our scout is going to figure out what the situation is."

"But no one is gone."

"I didn't mean a troop. They only person that could blend in with Togruta IS a Togruta."

"You sent the village boys out?"

"No, they're from the wrong tribe. They markings would give them away. Have you forgotten that Shaak is a Ti?"

"Yeah, I did."

Del smiled, "She should be back soon."

"Will she be able to escape?"

"Of course she will, she's a Jedi." Don wondered off to talk with Alpha and everyone else busied themselves with something. Del noticed that Fire'sspray was talking with Jarvo about planets and how beautiful Shili was.

"It is beautiful isn't it. It's a shame we don't have time to stay longer."

Del turned to address the person next to her, "You want to meet an Akul?"

"No, but you have to admit Coruscant isn't even close to this. It's all... metal, nothing real."

"So, what did you find out? Other than you miss your home planet."

Shaak smiled, "There is a human guard every five minutes that checks to make sure no one has different has entered."

"What about escaping?" Don and Alpha walked up and listened silently.

"Impossible, they would notice if people started disappearing. We could get one or two families out before they noticed but then... They would tighten security."

"What if you sneak in?"

"That's not a bad idea."

"You could take out the guard and one of our men could take his place."

"Then we could slowly move our people up into the village."

"While some of us sneak around to the other side and climb up."

"Then we could surround the city and take out the guards one by one."

"It's brilliant!"

"Except one thing," everyone turned to look at Alpha. "We aren't very good at rock climbing."

"I know of a few of my boys that can climb well. I'll take them around the back."

"The rest of the men and I can take the village," Shaak said.

"Why don't we attack at noon?" Don suggested. "They won't be as likely to notice us."

"Good idea, I'll get my men."

"I'll tell mine they're switching Generals for this attack." Del walked over tell her men. A few of them weren't happy but they said they would behave.

"Good, I'll hold you to your word. Grate, how's your arm feeling?"

"Good, Del."

"Think you can climb?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good, Grate, Fletcher, Fuz, Valve, and Canto, you're coming with Fire'sspray me. The rest of you behave and listen to Shaak's orders. Alright, you are dismissed." They went over to Shaak and she explained what each of them would be doing. Then she gave Del the start going sign. Del in turn gave her small group the move out sign. They headed for the other side of the city. The back of the city was on a cliff and they were going to climb it. They climbed with caution and soon reached the top. Fire'sspray climbed ahead and slipped into the city. Her job was to warn the citizens of the city that a battle was coming and to get inside. She was gone for a while and then returned and waited for the signal. Del was starting to feel hot sitting here. Shaak had hopefully taken the city by now. Where was the signal? They waited for a few more minutes before the she heard the signal.

"Alright men, let's roll!" They attacked the droids from behind and made their way toward Shaak and her group. Del met up with Shaak and split off from the rest of the group. Fire'sspray was in command of the men while they captured the leaders. She was determined not to get killed or let anyone else get killed. Del and Shaak ran to the building where the leaders were. Del found a vent on the side that they could climb though. She removed the grate and slipped in. She reached out with the force and found where they were. Shaak followed her to the room that they were in. It was just as Shaak had thought; they were holding Princess Zaa Vashee captive. Zaa's teeth were bared with her sharp k9s protruding.

"You won't get away with this."

"But I will, you see they can fight all they want but they won't risk harming you. I will still be in control of this planet when all is said and done. No one can rescue you without either you or them dying."

Del's eyes narrowed until they were slits. She signaled Shaak that they had to move fast. Shaak slipped her lightsaber into her hand and Del did the same. Then they silently removed the grate. On the count of three; one, two, three! They both jumped and he fired toward Zaa. Shaak jumped in front of it and Del overpowered him.

"You won't win."

"But I have," he gloated.

"Really? Care to explain how?"

"I shot her!" He pointed at Shaak who was sitting on the floor.

Shaak stood, "You shot me. But only in the arm." Del couldn't help but smile at his expression.

"I don't believe that is enough to kill anyone." Shaak cut the Princess's bonds. Princess Zaa laughed at Del's statement.

"Well said. I don't think I could have said it better myself. The rest of my people; are they alright?" Del nudged the prisoner toward the door and he walked out sullenly.

"See for yourself," Shaak said. Togruta were milling about, staring at the clones. They looked ill at ease. Alpha watched them like he thought they would pounce. Don grinned when he saw them.

"You're in one piece. I must say, I half expected one of you to end up in pieces."

Del smiled, "She's the only one that's hurt. She isn't very careful. I would know, after all, I trained under her." Shaak grabbed her lightsaber and threw at Del's head. Del ducked and the lightsaber almost hit the ground. Instead it flew into Don's hand. Del and Shaak exchanged a look and then stared at Don.

"You may want to keep this General Ti. After all, you never know when she may attack you."

Shaak got over her surprise, "Of course. She's such a dangerous Jedi. I think they should lock her up."

"Oh please, most of the council already thinks that."

"Then why haven't you been locked up?"

"Then they wouldn't have anyone other than Skywalker to go on suicide missions." Shaak laughed and Del joined her.

"I should probably get my men back to the Caiden."

"So soon?" Princess Zaa asked.

"I have injured men. They need to be taken care of. I'd love to stay planet-side but I'm pretty sure the council will a report rather soon," Del stuck out her tongue.

Shaak smiled, "I have the oddest feeling that the council is going to send you on another mission as soon as you report. I have to say I'm going to miss you."

"If you want Shaak, I can take your troops back with me and you can stay a little longer."

Shaak's eyes darted toward the where the Ti tribe was. "Thanks Del. I'll be there soon."

"You're welcome," Del whistled. "Alright boys, time to get back to the Caiden." Some groaned and others cheered. But they all headed back with Del and Fire'sspray. Shaak smiled at Del's retreating form and then headed to the Ti tribe.


	24. New Mission

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Sand walked into the room and immediately almost everyone snapped to attention. Don and Grate outranked him so they stayed seated.

"At ease," he said rolling his eyes. As soon as he said that everyone turned to look at the brother standing next to him. He had scars on the right side of his head. His hair was died blond and was cut close to his head. His one eye was brown and the other a pale yellow. He was wearing a droid finger necklace and civvies. Everyone knew this was Chopper from the 501st but none of them said so.

"Who's this?" asked Dark.

"Guys, this is Chopper from the 501st. Chopper this is the 566th minus our General and Commander Spray.

"Hello Chopper. Nice to meet you," Don said. Everyone else nodded backing up Don's statement.

"Say Don, where is the General? She normally hangs with us unless one of her friends are back," said Sand.

"Skywalker's the only one back and they aren't talking to each other. She stormed in here a couple of hours ago grumbling about him not letting something go. Then she sat in the corner brooding over it. We tried to get her to come out but she wouldn't. Guess that's something only you can do. Anyway she got a call from the council and they said they were sending us on a mission so if you've got any gear that needs packed I'd get it together."

"Thanks for the rundown."

"Now I've got a question for you. Where is Commander Spray?"

"She accompanied the Senators back to the senate building and will be here shortly."

"Hello Sand. You're back."

"I am. How was your meeting?"

"Same as always. I'm annoyed with the council and they're annoyed with me."

"I hear you're ticked off at General Skywalker."

"I've got a very good reason to be. All right boys, listen up. General Skywalker was seriously injured on his last mission so the council is sending the 501st with us on our mission. For all of you who conspire against each other, BEHAVE! I will not tolerate anyone pulling pranks. Teasing is fine but it had better not be mean. Skywalker is going to tell the 501st with the exception of Chopper who was with Sand. Is Chopper here?"

"I'm here Sir."

"Alright. Since you're new I'll let you off the hook for that. In the future remember that I am a Ma'am not a Sir. I do not take kindly being called Sir so if you value your life don't call me Sir." Several men chuckled at her statement. "I prefer that everyone calls me Del. If you are uncomfortable with that I suppose you can call me General Canachi. You are dismissed to pack your gear."

Chopper stuck with Sand on the way back to the barracks. "She prefers being called Del?"

"Yep, we have an awesome General. I wouldn't trade her for anyone else. I suppose you'll be wearing your normal armor?"

"Yep, why? Do you wear something else?"

"Yeah, it's more sturdy than the other armor. The only place we can get injured is the head. Unless you explode or get thrown into a wall. I'd better go. See ya on the Caiden."

"Yeah, see ya." Chopper went to his barracks thinking that this was going to be one interesting mission. He had NO idea how right he was.


	25. New Men

**I'm having SO much fun with this fic! :D Thanks to Aurora Lunar 0Love This0 and Neon Templar for reviewing! Please review and do my poll! I live on reviews! :D  
**

* * *

Tiger was straightening his bunk and listening to the current conversation. It was his habit before he left. He always had to have everything perfect before he left.

"Do you think we'll get along with the 501st? I hear they're pretty straight."

"Pretty straight? Laurie, please speak Basic. What does pretty straight mean?" asked Canto.

"They follow the rules fairly close," Laurie replied.

"Like the 41st?" asked Kerr.

"No, they're a little further than that. With Skywalker in charge they have to be."

"Okay, so they're in the middle," said Canto.

"Yep. On a completely different subject; what do you think about the Admiral's aid?"

"What Admiral's aid? I haven't seen him."

"The Admiral's aid isn't a him. It's a her." All the men turned toward Laurie and Laurie turned away pretending to be busy with his armor.

"Come on Laurie, we haven't got all day, you over-sized clone," said Kerr. Laurie tried not to let his anger show. He hated the fact that he was several inches taller than everyone else. They didn't mean for it to be an insult but it was.

He calmed himself down and turned toward them, "She showed up just before the mission to Shili."

"Really?" asked Net.

"Yeah; Don found her right away." Laurie wiggled his eyebrows expressively.

"What's she look like?" asked Net.

"Red-head with blue eyes and fair skin. Real cute. I'm glad Don finally got someone."

"Yeah, he's one of the only ones of us who doesn't have a girl. Speaking of getting a girl... you, Laurie, need one. I could hook you up with real fine one," Exhaust offered.

"No thanks, besides no girl wants a tall man."

"Sure they do, chicks dig them."

"Why don't you find another guy to pick on? Like Sand or Tiger."

"Sand outranks me. I can't pick on him and Tiger would have me pinned to the floor in a heartbeat. And there hasn't been anyone new in forever." They all looked over at the tree empty bunks, remembering the brothers that once occupied them.

A voice broke into their silence, "Excuse me but do any of you know where General Canachi is?" They turned and looked at a average looking trooper in normal armor. There were a bunch of troops standing behind him.

"No, but I can help you look for her," Tiger offered.

"That's not necessary; we don't want to bother you."

"It's not a bother. Besides she can be hard to find unless you know where she may be." Tiger walked out of the room and down the hall and the troop and his men followed him. Tiger walked past several hallways and doors before he saw a slight movement to his left. He stopped short causing one of the men behind him to bump into him.

"Sorry," the troop said.

"General Canachi," Tiger called. Del turned and Tiger saw that she had been talking to Captain Rex of the 501st.

"Yes Tiger?"

"These men have been looking for you." She turned her questioning gaze on them and the head troop spoke up.

"General Canachi, these men and I were told to report to you for duty. Master Windu sent us to be part of the 566th. He said he told you."

She smiled at him, "He did but I haven't had time to tell my men. Did he also tell you we are heading on a mission?"

"Yes Ma'am." Tiger looked at the troop with surprise. He knew what to call Del, he thought. Did he talk with Don? "We are ready."

"Good; I suppose I should find you places to stay."

"If you don't mind, Del, I'll take care of it."

"Thank you, Tiger. That would be a great help." Tiger turned to walk away, "Oh and Tiger."

"Yes?"

"If you see Don, tell him to report to me. I'll be right here."

"Okay."

They walked out of the room and the head troop spoke up, "You call your General, Del?"

"Yeah, she hates her title with a passion so we started calling her Del. How'd you know to call her Ma'am?"

"I worked under a female Jedi before. She didn't like Sir."

"Neither does Del."

"I was under the impression that the 566th was led by a Commander named Acher. Who's Don?"

"Don is Acher. Del didn't like his name and he wouldn't stop calling her Sir so she called him Don. It means Sir."

"I see."

"Are you all from the same battalion?"

"No, Stone and I are but the rest of them are from a different one than us." Tiger nodded, they had reached Tiger's room.

"Alright boys, we've got some new recruits." Everyone looked up. "We won't have time for names now but there will be no picking on the new men. You three are to sleep in here, the rest of you follow me." Three of the men broke off and stood uncertainly in the middle of the room as the rest left.

"Hi," Canto greeted them. "Welcome to the 566th. If you have anything you don't want to take you can leave them on your bunks." The troops nodded and picked bunks and sat on them.

"So we just wait here?"

"Until we're done and then you follow us to the Caiden."

"The what?"

"Caiden, it's our Star Destroyer."

"Okay." They fell into awkward silence until the men finished. Then they followed them to the Caiden where they boarded and showed them around. Then they headed for the training room. That was where everyone was supposed to meet. Del was there standing in the middle talking with Rex and Don. Most of the troops where there.

"Are we the last to arrive?" asked one of the new troops.

"Nah," Laurie replied, "Grate and his group aren't here yet."

"They are now," said Tiger. At that moment Rex and Don went to stand with their men and the room fell silent.

"Wow, and here I thought I'd have to shout or whistle," Del joked. "It's nice to see you all here. I'm sorry that Skywalker was injured but it will be fun to work with you. We also have some new troops among us. None of us know your names, so if you could tell us..."

The head troop walked up from where he was standing with Grate's group. "I'm Pipes, and this is Stone, Supe, Hero, Heal, Jhason, Jayshon, Jalen, Damian, Taceo, Na'im, Ellis, Kerem, Adish, Jaybird, Ademar, Aren, Arndt, Eagle, Oriole, Raven, and Avis. We also have female healers with us; Topaz and Kass. Yes, they are troops also." Everyone's jaw dropped then. Del, Fire'sspray and the new guys (and girls) were the only ones that didn't look like they had been sucker punched. Pipes walked back to the group and everyone else stared at the two clones in armor he had indicated were girls. They removed their helmets and black flowing hair fell down. Topaz had eyes that were blue and Kass had brown eyes. Other than that they looked identical.

"Guys, I know this is a shock but they are trained to be healers. They are capable of taking care of themselves. They will be staying in Commander Spray's quarters. Are there any questions?" They shook their heads. "Good, you are dismissed."

Tiger turned his attention to the three men staying in their barracks. They were Jayshon, Adish and Stone.

He listened to Laurie talking to Adish, "I thought you looked familiar. Do you remember me?"

"Yeah, you were on my ship on Shili. You're Laurie."

"I'm hard to forget."

"I suppose but I recognize Grate and Light. If I saw the others I'd probably remember them too."

"Wait, you two know each other?" asked Tiger.

"Yeah, our ship crashed on Shili and we met through the crash."

"Nice to meet you. Glad you're with us."

"Where's the mess? I'm starving!"

"Stone, you're always starving," said Jayshon.

"Follow us," said Tiger. "So... there are girl healers?"

"Yeah, they used Jango's DNA for that too. Except they made them girls," said Adish.

"They look nice."

"They are," said Adish. "But watch your step. Kass has a thing for Jayshon and Jayshon has a thing for Kass. Topaz won't let anyone get close to her. She normally clouts them upside the head or sticks them with a drug that will knock them out. If you're going to hit on her than you'd better have fast reflexes. Most of us are healers but some of us are pilots."

"Who are the healers and who are the pilots?"

"Jaybird, Ademar, Aren, Arndt, Eagle, Oriole, Raven, Avis and I are pilots. Jayshon, Heal, Jhason, Jalen, Damian, Tacoe, Na'im, Ellis, Kerem, Topaz and Kass are healers. The rest of us are normal troops."

Ellis ran up to them practically breathless, "Someone told me you guys have troops that are twins."

"What? Two clones in the same jar?" asked Jayshon. "The Kaminoans would never allow it."

"Yes, it's true. They didn't know until it was too late," said Tiger.

"Really? Who?"

"Light and Dark. Light has blond hair and Dark has black hair. Neither of them dye it. They are great men."

"I think I'm going to like being in the 566th," Stone said.

"Everyone does," Canto said.


	26. Another Jedi?

**I'm having SO much fun with this fic! :D Thanks to Aurora Lunar 0Love This0 and Neon Templar for reviewing! Please review and do my poll! I live on reviews! :D  
**

* * *

Tiger woke up feeling annoyed. He had two reasons: One, ever since hearing the warning about Topaz beating up guys, he had tried to get her out of his mind. And he was failing miserably; two, every time he saw Del yesterday she had been talking with Rex. He was beginning to feel like the 566th was being replaced. Those reasons were enough to make him grumpy and Canto's snoring was enough to drive him nuts. He decided to be diplomatic. He grabbed his pillow and brought it down on Canto's head with a nice sounding WHOP! Canto mumbled sorry and rolled over. Tiger looked at the clock, it was 0700. He didn't need to be up yet but he was awake so why not. He slipped out of bed and into his civvies. He walked to the mess and sat at a table staring into a cup of caf.

"You must still be asleep if you haven't drank that yet." His almond colored eyes slid over to look into Topaz blue eyes. He was surprised that she was talking to him. He had gotten the impression that she kept to herself.

"I'm just thinking," he replied.

"Care to expound on the subject?"

"Did our general seem distant yesterday?"

"I wouldn't know; I just got here. She did seem to spend a lot of time with Captain Rex though."

"That's what I mean. I feel like she's trading the time she spent with us for time with him. I noticed she didn't really talk with Don at all."

"Perhaps she's just explaining the rules."

"What rules? Our only rules are: don't leave a brother behind; no excessive amount of pranks; do not disobey a direct order; and respect everyone no matter what rank they are."

"Perhaps he didn't get the excessive amount of pranks? I don't know. If your general cares then you should explain how you feel to her."

"I suppose. On another subject, I hear you beat guys up regularly."

Topaz got indignant, "I do not beat them up regularly. Only when they hit on me."

"So in other words, regularly."

"Guys do not hit on me regularly."

"I'm surprised."

"Are you hitting on me?" she asked narrowing her eyes and giving him a suspicious look.

"No. I'm just saying I'm surprised."

"Alright, you pass."

"I pass?"

"I have decided I wont beat you up so therefore you pass." Tiger laughed and she joined him. "I should go, I'll see you later."

"I hope not. That would probably mean I'm injured." Topaz laughed again and walked out.

He tried a sip of his caf and set it back down.

"Cold?"

"Yeah."

"Want me to warm it up?"

"Sure." She picked it up and put it in the microwave. She stood in silence until the microwave rang. She got the caf out and set it in front of him.

"Have something on your mind?"

"Yeah."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Sure."

"Would you stop giving me one word answers?"

"Okay."

"TIGER!"

"Sorry. It's too much fun."

"It isn't fun for me. So what do you want to talk about?"

"Why is the 501st going with us?"

"Because the council wanted them to."

"Any particular reason?" She looked around as if she was afraid someone was eavesdropping and then she continued.

"We are meeting up with another Jedi. An undercover Jedi." Tiger raised his right eyebrow but didn't say anything. "He has been working undercover for the council since he became a knight. His padawan joined him a couple of years ago. The 501st will be under his command."

"Is that why you've been spending so much time with Rex?"

"Yes, I was good friends with this Jedi. Rex needs to know all he can so they can work together without a problem."

"Won't helping us blow his cover?"

"No, he has been disguised. When he helps us he will return to normal."

"When do we land?"

Del cocked her head and for a second there was silence. Then there was the unmistakable siren warning them that they were about to land.

Del smiled and stood, "I'll talk to you later." He watched her walk away and wondered what this other Jedi was like.


	27. Reuninted

**I'm having SO much fun with this fic! :D Thanks to Aurora Lunar 0Love This0 and Neon Templar for reviewing! Please review and do my poll! I live on reviews! :D  
**

* * *

The men had disembarked from the ship and Del was watching for _him._ She couldn't help but think about the last time they had seen each other. It had been right before his "dismissal". She wondered if he had changed or if he was still the same. She noticed a young, female walking toward them nonchalantly. Del guessed she was about 15 to 16 years of age. She was half Human, half Zeltron. She had a redish-pink skin color and jet black hair that hung down to the middle of her back. Her eyes were an icy blue color but they were warm and friendly.

"Hello; you are Master Canachi?"

"Yes; and you are?"

"Jedi Padawan Azalea Cortez. Master had a meeting that he couldn't miss so he asked me to take you to where you'll be staying." Del signaled the men that they were moving out and they followed them.

Fire'sspray walked up to them, "Hi, I'm Fire'sspray."

"I'm Azalea."

"What's it like working under cover?" Fire'sspray asked.

"Interesting. You get to pretend you're someone you aren't. I was uncomfortable at first but them Master told me he had issues at first too. He said he was a perfect padawan, never breaking the rules. I can't see him doing that. He's so relaxed and casual."

"He was a perfect padawan. His master used to complain that he had no imagination," Del said.

"Have you ever worked under cover, Master?" asked Azalea.

"Yes; it was hard to adjust but once you get used to it, it can be fun. Depends on who you are pretending to be, though"

"Who were you pretending to be?" asked Fire'sspray.

"Once I was a bounty hunter, that was a fun job."

"Have you ever been a slave?" asked Azalea.

"Yes; that wasn't fun. It was horrible to see what people experience everyday."

"What type of slave were you?" asked Azalea. "Sorry, Master says I talk before I think."

"That's alright. I've been a slave twice. A house slave once and a dancing slave once. I'm not sure who I worked for as a house slave but as a dancing slave I was owned by Gardulla Besadii."

"A Hutt? You were owned by a Hutt? I think I'm gonna puke!" said Azalea

"You and me both. I remember that."

"Fire'sspray, how do you remember that?" asked Azalea.

"Because she was with me. Except she wasn't a dancing slave. We escaped after a few weeks with some other slaves." Del said.

"Well, we're here. I'll show you where you're supposed to stay." Azalea showed them and the men stored their gear. Del walked into her room and took off her shoes and socks. Then she followed Azalea to the room the padawan's were sharing. Fire'sspray stood with her back to one of the beds and spread her arms out.

Then she fell backwards onto the bed, "This bed is SO comfortable. Imagine it Master, we get to stay in actual beds during this trip."

"Wow, you guys have a sad life if the highlight of your day is sleeping on a bed," said Azalea.

"Our life is nowhere close to sad," said Del. "Do you have a kitchen?"

"Yes, why?"

"I was thinking that the men are probably bored of ration sticks."

"Do they know how to cook?"

"No, but I do and I'm sure Fire'sspray would love to help."

"I feel bad for you. You're getting volunteered," said Azalea.

"I don't mind. Show us where the kitchen is and we'll get started," replied Fire'sspray.

"Right this way."

* * *

They had finished cooking and were about to call the men for dinner when a voice called out, "Who has invaded my house?"

"Only the people that the council sent," responded Azalea.

He walked into the room and Del noticed he looked exactly the same except he looked carefree and happy. He had brown hair with a gold streak in the front and dancing brown eyes.

"Canachi!" he said in surprise. "Why did they send you here?"

"They probably figure you're still the perfect Jedi you were when you left and needed someone to even out the picture."

"I heard that you aren't on the best... terms with the council."

"I'm not. They let me be and in return I don't make their lives miserable."

"What happened?"

"They have issues with the fact that I let my troops run free and they don't address me as General."

"How's the gang?"

"The gang?"

"Yeah, you know who I mean."

"Fine; Tru is out on a mission, Darra is back at the temple and Anakin broke his leg in two different spots."

"What was he doing?"

"I have no idea. Probably something dumb."

"Has he changed since the last time I saw him?"

"If you want to know if he's still reckless and headstrong than, yes, he is. He isn't as bad as he used to be but he still thinks that everyone is helpless."

"You look different."

"Different how?"

"You just do."

"I have to call the men. Want to walk with me?"

"Sure." They walked out of the room in silence. "You carry yourself different."

"I do?"

"Yeah, and you're more serious. Not too serious but almost like... something traumatic happened to you."

"Something did. Have you heard of General Grievous?"

"Yeah."

"When I was almost 18 I went on a mission with Shaak, Master Eerin and Master Kenobi. They were captured and Anakin and I decided to storm the castle. I didn't know Grievous was there until the plan had been set into action. The plan went fine until the end. The ship that was to transport us off the roof didn't arrive in time and so we were fighting Grievous. Master Kenobi and Shaak were fighting Grievous while the rest of us took care of the droids. Grievous kicked Master Kenobi and knocked Shaak's lightsaber out of her hand. He was going to kill her but I got in the way. He impaled me an inch away form my heart."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I've learned a lot from that. I've also fought Grievous again, this time he was the one running away."

"You act as if it's nothing."

"It is nothing."

"Yeah, getting almost killed is nothing."

"And the council wondered why I didn't want to come on this mission," she grumbled.


	28. Comparing

**When I don't know what to write, I always write the boys in the 566th. They are my favorite. :D Thanks to Aurora Lunar 0Love This0 and Neon Templar for reviewing! Please review and do my poll! I live on reviews! :D  
**

* * *

Go away, was Laurie's first thought. The footsteps sounded like Exhaust's.

"What do you want?"

"I'll ignore that comment."

Laurie's next thought was; you di'kut. "Lieutenant Sandstorm," he said snapping to attention.

"Relax; neither of us are on duty. Besides it's annoying when people are constantly saluting me." Laurie relaxed but his eyes never left Sand's face. How he envied his brother's blond hair and blue eyes. Sands was as lucky as a troop got. Having both recessive genes made him unique.

"You wish you were me." Laurie was startled, how did Sands know that? "You're probably wondering how I know that. And no, I am not reading your mind. Do you have any idea how many brothers come up and tell me that? Of course not, you're not me. I'd trade in a heartbeat."

"Why?" Sands had NO idea how lucky he was.

"I'm always getting kicked out of training exercises. Everyone claims my hair is distracting and the blue eyes are unnerving."

"They're just jealous."

"Maybe."

Sands looked so sad that Laurie tried to cheer him up. "At least no one complains that you're so tall they can't see over you." He was rewarded with a snort.

"Did they live to regret it?" Sands asked.

"Yeah; I'm not allowed to beat up an arc trooper." That made Sands burst into laughter and Laurie joined him. They were still laughing when Chopper walked in a few moments later.

"What's so funny?"

"Laurie's story," replied Sands.

"Anyway, General called us for dinner," said Chopper.

"Ration sticks?" asked Laurie.

"You'll have to see," he replied, walking out of the tent. Laurie and Sands shrugged and followed him. They saw Del talking with a guy around her age. Maybe a little older. Laurie didn't pay too much attention. He did notice, however, that Sandstorm stiffened and seemed to size him up. This was probably the second Jedi they had been told about.

* * *

Sands saw them sitting there and instantly recognized the guy as a Jedi. He wasn't wearing robes or a lightsaber but it was in the way he was standing. He was about 5 inches taller then Del. He had brown hair with a golden steak in the front, brown eyes, and a nice smile. He seemed nice enough. Sand relaxed and approached slowly so that it's look unintentional. He noticed that Del looked his way and raised her eyebrow. She definitely noticed his approach.

He did the little bow thing she often did when meeting someone, "Del. Who's your friend?"

The Jedi spoke, "I see."

Del rolled her eyes at him, "Sandstorm, this is Jedi Knight Ferus Olin."

"What am I supposed to call him?"

Del looked at Ferus, telling him that he was to answer that question. "Off duty, Ferus. On duty, General Olin."

"Understood Sir." Sands walked toward the food and thought about Ferus Olin. He was unsure of what to think. He was different from Del. Having them call him general was proof. He smiled to himself; this was going to be interesting.

* * *

"You didn't dismiss him?"

"Why would I?" she cocked her head and it made him want to kiss her. He was pretty sure that if he tried, he'd get slapped.

"I was under the impression that it was standered procedure."

"For normal battalions, yes. The 566th is special. I don't like the whole formal thing."

"He looked at me funny when I said he was to call me General Olin while on duty."

"I detest the name General Canachi and I hate it when they call me Sir. That is probably why. The 501st shouldn't have a problem with that."

"I thought Skywalker was the reckless one."

"He is. I'm the casual one. I detest titles."

"You always detested titles."

"Did you really think I'd change that much?"

"I don't know. It's been, what? Three years?"

"Almost. I wonder how our padawans are getting along."

"Why do you always change the subject when we talk about then?"

"I do?"

"Yeah; don't feel bad. You didn't know."

"I shouldn't have lectured you."

"That's all over now. How's life on your home world?"

"The Seps were there but the 566th got assigned and now they are no longer under attack."

"How's the Senate?"

"You asked that just to bug me didn't you?"

He feigned surprise, "I didn't know it'd bug you!" Del threw her lightsaber hilt at him and he ducked, causing it to hit the wall and bounce away. "Are you prone to throwing things when people bug you?"

"Only when it's you."

"Okay, let's talk about something else. Do you still dance?"

"I don't have much time to but I do when I have the chance."

"Does your homeworld still dance?"

"Of course, dancing is part of our culture. We could not stop any more than a Twi'lek could."

"When was the last time you danced there?"

"Two months ago. I missed the most recant one."

"When was it?"

"Yesterday."

"That figures."

"So what do you do out here? Other than spy on seps."

"I play card games with Azalea. She loves the calm. Are you still A.D.D.?"

"It's not something you grow out of."

"This would drive you crazy."

"I bet. Is Azalea a Consular?"

"Yes; what's Fire'sspray?"

"Sentinel."

"I see. How's Dark Side?"

"Driving Sesha crazy."

"I miss temple life."

"Why? You can do anything out here!"

"You would love it. I miss everyone."

"Even Skywalker?"

"Even Skywalker."

"I'm here."

"And I am SO thankful."

"Come on. Let's do something."

"We need to stay here."

"The troops will stay here and Azalea and Fire'sspray are old enough to take care of themselves."

"But."

"Are you telling me you don't trust your padawan?"

"Are you sure?"

"I've left Fire'sspray alone with the men several times. They always handle themselves just fine. And besides I'm going to go crazy if I sit here one more minute."

"Okay, let's go!"

"Why are you so excited all the sudden?"

"I've seen you when you're normal. That's scary enough. I don't want to know what you're like when you've gone crazy."


	29. Compromise

** Thanks to Aurora Lunar 0Love This0 and Neon Templar for reviewing! Please review! I live on reviews! :D  
**

* * *

Fire shifted to a more comfortable position and continued reading. She was almost finished when Azalea came in.

"What are you reading?" Aza asked.

"Chemistry 101."

"How are you reading that stuff?"

"It's interesting."

"You're crazy."

"Why don't you like it?"

"It's practically impossible to read. Besides, it's boring. I'd rather read a good mystery."

"I'd rather read a mystery too but when I get back to the temple I have a test on this."

"Are you going to read this the entire time?"

"No, I brought another book for when I'm done."

"When will you be done?"

"In a few minutes," Fire replied.

Azalea walked over and grabbed her brush off her nightstand. She then undid the braid her hair was in and brushed it. Fire finished the chapter and watched Aza brush her hair. Aza noticed her watching her and paused.

"Why are you watching me brush my hair?"

"I wasn't watching you brush your hair. I was trying to figure out what it is like to live outside the temple and all the rules."

"I'm not outside all the rules," Aza said continuing to brush her hair. "Master still holds me to most of them. However I don't have a padawan braid."

"I noticed. Do you want to meet the 501st?"

"That was random but sure."

"Okay, let's go."

* * *

Rex was thinking over the 566th. He wasn't quite sure what to make of them. Don was nice and so were the rest of them but they didn't stick to rules. They weren't as bad as he expected but he didn't know what he thought of them yet. His thoughts were interrupted by voices. They were female. He assumed it was General Canachi and her padawan. He looked at the door expecting to see her and was surprised when she wasn't there. It was Commander Spray and a Zeltron. The Zeltron was almost human looking if it hadn't been for her redish skin. She had black hair and ice blue eyes. This must be the other padawan, he thought. But where is her braid. They were talking when Commander Spray's comlink went off. She answered it and in a few minutes she left. The Zeltron walked over and talked to a group of his brothers sitting. She chatted with them for a while before leaving and talking to another group of soldiers. This continued for about an hour before she started walking back toward the entrance. She almost walked past him but she stopped and pivoted.

"Hi, what's your name?"

"Is that what you have been doing? Going around asking soldiers their names?"

"Yes, why?"

"I was about to ask you the same question."

"Because I like to know who I'm working with. So, what's your name?"

"Captain Rex."

"Well, _Captain _Rex. I'm Azalea Cortez."

"Commander Cortez," he nodded.

"Azalea is fine."

"No, it's not."

"Yes it is!" Azalea crossed her arms and glared at him. He wasn't force sensitive but he could feel her emotions flash anger and annoyance. He wasn't sure why he could until he remembered that Zeltrons could project emotions.

"I am a clone. I'm supposed to call you Commander Cortez."

"I don't want to you call me Commander Cortez," she practically spat the last two words.

"The GAR rules clearly state that you are to be called Commander Cortez."

"I don't care what the GAR rules say!"

"I must abide by the rules of the GAR." He felt her flash a new emotion, frustration. This could go on for hours, he thought. "Look, if you don't want to be called Commander Cortez, I can call you Commander Azalea."

"I don't want to be called that either."

"Calling you by your first name is unacceptable. Compromise?"

"Fine," she said, although he could tell by her look it wasn't fine. "I'll see you later, _Captain_ Rex." She turned and walked away.

Oh boy, he thought, this is going to be one interesting mission. It was fine calling Ahsoka by her first name but he didn't start calling her that until he knew her much better. Ahsoka was still a kid to him, where as Azalea appeared to be older. He guessed that they were the same age, about 16 standard years of age, but Azalea seemed more mature. It was probably the way she carried herself and her smile. He could see himself going out with her. He was instantly startled, she was his commanding officer for this mission. Those thoughts were inappropriate. She was a Jedi and he was a clone. She had rules against attachments and it was against the GAR rules to date a General or Commander. If he was going to be able to get through this mission alive he would have to get rid of these thoughts. He walked outside to be alone and he saw her and Commander Spray talking and laughing he knew this would be harder then he thought.


	30. Doing well

** Thanks to Aurora Lunar 0Love This0 and Neon Templar for reviewing! Please review! I live on reviews! :D  
**

* * *

Rex was waiting for the signal to move. He was waiting in a bunch of brush for General Olin to give the order. The plan was all mapped out. The two Generals had spent the most of last night discussing their attack. He heard movement behind him and saw Azalea walk up beside him.

"Mind if I join you, Rex," she whispered.

"Not at all, Azalea," he replied. He had apologized to her about the whole name disagreement the next day and they had become friends. They had been here for a week and they knew the way each other worked. Last night they had been watching the stars and he hadn't realized until after word that his arm had been around her and she had been curled up next to him with her head on his shoulder. He glanced over at her and saw that she was looking at him. She smiled at him and looked like she was about to say something but then General Olin gave the signal and they moved.

It was an all out attack on the enemy, or so it seemed. They would rush in from this side and drive them back. When they got close the separatists would think they had them because of their reinforcements and then the 566th would attack from the other side sandwiching the seps in the middle.

Rex ran out firing at the droids and giving his brothers cover. He saw Fives and Echo crouch behind trees and shoot. He also saw General Olin fighting near Chopper and Jester. Just out of his sight was Azalea, he could hear her lightsaber's hum as it deflected bolts back toward the droids. General Olin was slicing and dicing droids while giving the men cover. Although Rex didn't think that he was as good as Skywalker, he was good at what he was doing and didn't seem as reckless. He noticed a droid homing in on one of his men and he aimed and fired. It dropped and Rex fired at other droids. They pressed them further and further toward their base.

Rex spoke into his com, "Shouldn't they start attacking now."

"I'm sure they will soon," Olin replied tersely. They were really close to the base and the 566th still hadn't started attacking. Rex heard Olin mutter to himself, "Come on, Tara, any time now." Rex was worried, if Olin thought they should be attacking and they weren't... it didn't bode well for the 501st.

He heard blaster fire in the distance and half of the seps army turned toward the new threat and General Olin muttered, "About time."

That's when it started going down hill. For a few moments everything seemed fine and then... it was out of control. Rex could see the 566th but they weren't firing toward the seps. Half of them were firing the opposite way and half of them were firing at the seps. He saw one trooper run toward them. At first Rex thought that he was going to charge through the droids. But the troop jumped and curled into a ball and rolled through them. The droids were so stunned they didn't think to fire at him. He uncurled on the other side and fired at a couple of droids, taking them down. Every shot he fired, hit exactly where he was aiming. He turned and ran up to General Olin.

"General Olin."

"What is it?"

"We're stuck!"

"What?"

"We're sandwiched between these droids and the droid marching toward the base."

"There are droids marching toward the base?"

"Yeah." Olin yelled something in another language.

"Does she have a plan?"

"Nope. We split and are firing at both sides but I don't think that's going to work for long."

"She's winging it?"

"She doesn't exactly have enough time to come up with a plan. She want's to know if you have any "brilliant ideas"."

"I'm afraid I don't. How well can you guys hold up?"

"Well enough; we have enough ammo to be able to hold them until at least sunset."

"You don't think you'll die before then?"

"Not with this armor. I'm worried about Del and Fire'sspray. They always take risks and they don't wear armor."

"We'll do our best to take out what's between us. See if you can't keep them from doing anything dumb."

"Will do." With that he ran, jumped and rolled again. The next few minutes Rex was too busy fighting to notice what they were doing. Then the base exploded, raining rubble on the droids close to it.

With the base gone, Rex could see them much better. They didn't look like they were doing to bad. General Canachi was wielding one lightsaber in Shein form. He'd seen Ahsoka use that handhold but Canachi did it with more grace. The lightsaber was an arc of destruction. Rex had heard that, like the 501st, the 566th had three ARC troopers. In fact, with their new replacements they had four. It was hard to tell who they were but he noticed that their clothes had stripes on them. He heard the hum of Vulture droids above him and noticed that one of the 566th had looked up and yelled something to the General. She hit her wrist com and spoke into it. Soon her heard the familiar hum of Republic gunships. They chased the Vulture droids, firing at them and destroying some. The droids between them and the 566th were few but there were a ton of droids on on the other side of 566th and they were struggling trying to deal with them and the others. He saw several of them get hit but after they fell they got back up again and kept fighting.

He heard Azalea's voice through his com, "Master, they need my help."

"Go," he replied.

"Rex, watch you're left side."

He nodded, "Yes, Sir."

Rex saw Azalea sprint toward them slicing droids with her green lightsaber. The 501st finished off the droids between them and as Rex ran to join them he searched for the Jedi. Fire'sspray's headtails danced as she moved, avoiding blaster bolts. General Olin was off to his left destroying droids with their own bolts. Azalea teamed up with Fire'sspray and their three blades were deadly arcs. General Canachi was using two blades, one violet, one blue. She spun one to avoid blaster bolts and sent a volley of them back at the droids. General Olin slowly moved to her right and Rex could see Canachi's mouth moving. Olin replied and Canachi ducked underneath a bolt, darted forward, and destroyed the droid that had fired it. A tank moved in toward their left and Canachi moved to destroy it.

She ran fast and sliced it, making it explode. She moved to come back and her eyes shut in pain and cried out. She spun, deflecting bolts back toward the droids. She continued to fight her way back toward the 566th. Another tank moved in and fired at her.

Rex heard Don yell, "General, LOOK OUT!"

She spun trying to hold the blast back with the force but the pressure threw her backward causing her to hit a tree. She didn't move and he heard Don yell, "NO!"

Don's hand extended and one of her lightsaber hilts flew into it. He ignited it and the blue blade sprang to life. He charged the tank, dodging and deflecting blaster bolts. He reached it and destroyed it before moving on toward the droids. General Olin had joined him in taking out the droids. The 566th recovered first and started firing at the droids. The Jedi Commanders and the 501st recovered next and began destroying droids. They moved in a flanking motion and managed to trap the droids in-between them. It wasn't too long before they finished them off.

General Olin glanced over at the spot where General Canachi had last been and shuddered, looking like he was about to get sick. The medics were hurrying about, talking care of the wounded, putting them on stretchers and transporting them to the medbay. The 566th were downcast. Everyone looked at General Olin for instruction, Rex wasn't sure that he knew what to do but he didn't know who else would instruct them.

"You did well. I'm not entirely sure what they normally tell you or if you're just normally dismissed but I thought I'd tell you that. You are dismissed."

Rex walked back, listening to the 501st's chatter. The 566th walked back in silence. Rex walked up to one of the men.

"I'm sorry about your General."

"Thanks. I'm Grate."

"I'm Rex."

"I know. Don't worry too much. She does this every 2nd mission. She likes to keep us on our toes." Rex tried not to laugh and ended up snorting. Grate lost it when he snorted and Rex laughed too. Soon everyone was laughing; a couple of them laughed so hard that they cried. It was an messed up day that could make troops laugh and cry at the same time, Rex thought.


	31. Surprises

** Thanks to Aurora Lunar 0Love This0, captainrexbest35 and Neon Templar for reviewing! Please review! I live on reviews! :D Remember, italics means that we are going back to something that happened in the past.  
**

* * *

_Ferus was sitting in the dark ship trying to make sense of what had happened. The wires above him sparked and hissed. How in the galaxy did I manage to do this? he wondered. He tried to make the pieces of the puzzle fall into place but they were the wrong shape. To top it all off he had a headache and it wasn't helping._

_ A feminine voice broke his concentration, "I thought I'd find you here." He looked up to see her climbing through the mess of wiring and crates._

_"I really made a mess of things, didn't I?" he asked._

_"Yes."_

"_We're stranded, right?"_

_"Yes." They sat in silence a few moments._

_"I failed."_

_"Yes. Now what are you going to do about it?"_

_"I don't know, probably something dumb."_

_"Look around you, you already did that."_

_"Then I don't have any options."_

_"Pessimist," she mumbled._

"_What did you call me?"_

"_A pessimist. You're looking at the dark side of things."_

_"Where's the light side? I don't see one, do you?"_

_"Yes, I do. You've already messed up big time so you're at the bottom. The only place you can go is up. Now, what are you going to do?"_

_He sat thinking a few moments, then his head snapped up. "Del-Tara!"_

_"What?"_

_"Can you make a transmitter out of this mess?"_

_"I don't know. There isn't much to work with."_

_"Oh, come on. I've seen you put droids together out of scraps, hack into databases, and hot wire 7 different ships. This can't be much harder."_

_"How far does it need to reach?"_

_"Preferably the Temple, but if it won't reach that far, the nearest city will do. Can you do that?"_

_"I'll see what I can do. But I'll need your help getting supplies."_

"_What do you need?"_

* * *

Azalea's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "Master, do you want caf?"

He looked up at his apprentice. She was standing with a pot of caf and a couple of cups. _She looks worried, _he thought. _She's too young to be worried._ "Yes, thank you," he replied. She poured the caf and sat down next to him. He took a sip of it and watched her. She sipped her caf, then fooled with her hair, then she sighed.

"Something is bothering you," he said.

"Do you... do you think Master Canachi will be okay?"

He smiled at his 16 year old apprentice, "I'm sure she'll be fine."

She studied him a few moments and decided that he meant it. They sat in silence and drank caf for a while. Then he noticed a medic walking toward them. He stood up and Azalea followed suit. The first thing Ferus noticed was that the medic was short. Well, not midget short, but a few inches shorter then the rest of the troops.

"General Canachi will be alright. She has regained consciousness and should be up and around in a few days. She sprained her ankle and has a concussion but other than that, she's fine."

"She's alright?" Ferus asked.

"Yes, otherwise she wouldn't be grumbling at the medics," he chuckled. "She doesn't think that she needs to be sitting in there for the two days we prescribed. We told her that we could transport her to Coruscant and let the healers there take care of her and that made her not grumble as much."

"Why?" Azalea asked.

"Because, they would probably tell her that she should be inactive for longer."

Ferus chuckled, "They would. They know her too well to not to. What's your name?"

"Jalen; I was assigned to the 566th right before we came here."

"Bet she freaked out when she woke up," Ferus stated.

"Yeah, she actually kicked Jayshon in the knee before she realized where she was. She apologized to him, though."

Ferus smiled, "I think I'll go keep her company."

"Have fun," Jalen replied.

Ferus grinned and walked toward the med-tent.

* * *

**Same planet; four days later.**

Azalea paused for a minute and observed the organized chaos around her. Del-Tara and her troops were getting ready to leave. Aza wasn't sure if she was ready for them to leave. She had spent a lot of time with Fire'sspray and would miss the outgoing Twi'lek. She had also spent time with Master Canachi. She had talked with her a lot in the last few days. She finally understood some things that she hadn't understood before.

"You gonna stand there all day?" Azalea turned to see Grate watching her with and inquisitive look.

"Nope; I was just thinking about some things."

"Ah well, once we're gone, you'll have a lot of time to think them over," he smiled warmly and walked on.

She shifted the box she was carrying and walked the rest of the way toward the Caiden. She was met by Flip, who told her where to put the box. She walked into the room and set it down.

"Having fun?" asked Don.

"Oh, yes," she replied sarcastically. "Are you?"

"Of course. There is nothing I'd rather do with my day than organize this ship," he dropped a wink and returned to scrolling through his datapad. She walked back off the Caiden and joined a group of the soldiers and Fire'sspray.

"What's next?" Aza asked.

"Nothing; that's it," Fire replied.

"So now what?" she asked.

"We enjoy our last day here," Fire replied. "Hey, where'd Master Olin and Master Canachi go?"

Azalea shrugged, "Beats me. We should play some type of game."

"How about truth or dare?" Sand asked.

"Sounds like fun!" they said in unison.

* * *

"Where are we going?" Del asked.

"You'll find out in a minute," Ferus replied. "Just be patient."

"Patience isn't my strong suit," she stated.

"I noticed," he chuckled. They walked in silence for a few minutes and then Ferus said, "All right; you can open your eyes now."

Del opened them to see a small cave. She looked over and chuckled.

"What?" he asked.

"I can hear it from here."

"I figured you probably could." He started walking into the cave, "Coming?" She smiled and followed him.

The cave widened and opened into a green, lush forest. On the far side there was a waterfall.

"It's beautiful," she whispered.

"I figured you should see it before you leave." He grinned like a little boy, "I even brought dinner." She laughed and they walked over towards the waterfall.

* * *

The sun was setting and everything was bathed in orangish-red light. Ferus and Del were sitting on a rock with their feet in the water watching the sunset. The sky was a mix of colors and captivated their attention. Ferus was surprised to notice that Del was leaning against his shoulder with her feet curled up next to her. He slid his arm around her waist and they sat like that for a while. Ferus stopped staring at the sunset and looked at Del. With her brown hair pulled up in a messy bun and her bangs hanging down over her left eye she looked more beautiful than the setting sun. She noticed him staring at him and she looked back at him. They sat like that for a few seconds before their lips met in a kiss. She broke back looking surprised. He braced himself, expecting her to hit him but instead she kissed him back. Her arms slipped around his shoulders and his arms tightened around her waist. They broke it off for air and sat in silence for a few minutes.

Del broke the silence, "We should be getting back." Ferus nodded his agreement and they packed their stuff up. They walked back through the cave in silence. They had just gotten out of the cave when Ferus broke their silence.

"Tara; where exactly do we stand?" he asked.

"I don't know," she sighed. "Before tonight I would have said we were just friends."

"But?" he asked.

"I feel like the force is guiding me towards you."

"But what about..." He paused and finished the sentence, "the Jedi Code?"

"I don't know. Everyone says passion and emotions lead to the dark side but do they? I've read about all the Jedi that lived in the olden days and they dated and were married and they didn't turn to the dark side."

"How about we talk about this in the morning?" he asked, noting that they were back at the house.

"Sure; it will give me time to think about it."

"May I kiss you goodnight?" he asked. She smiled deeply in reply and they kissed. Then she walked inside and toward her room.**  
**


	32. Thoughts

** Thanks to Aurora Lunar 0Love This0, captainrexbest35 and Neon Templar for reviewing! Please review! I live on reviews! :D R  
**

* * *

Rex sat; listening to the hum of the ship and the talk of brothers. He kept thinking back to last night. Azalea had been sitting on the lawn outside looking up.

* * *

_"Aza? What are you doing?"_

_"Looking at the stars." _

_"Why?"_

_"It's quiet, calm; a good time to think."_

_He sat down next to her and watched the stars for a few minutes. Then he found himself watching something, someone, that wasn't the stars. She leaned toward him slowly and before he realized it her side was touching his. He was glad that they were in the dark because he was pretty sure his face was turning a flaming red. He tried to watch the stars but his attention kept being drawn toward her. The moonlight played along her black hair and made it look like it was glowing. He moved his arm slowly up and around her waist using his other arm to support himself. Her legs folded next to her and she shifted towards him, leaning her head against his shoulder. Oddly enough he didn't feel relaxed or comfortable. Ahsoka had leaned on him before like this but when she did he felt like, well... kind of like a piece of furniture; comfortable and supporting. But now... he felt out of place and extremely awkward. He felt like a Bantha after it was shaved; clumsy and bright red._

_"Am I making you uncomfortable?"_

_Her voice startled him and he jumped. She sat up and studied him. "No, it's okay. I've just..." he trailed off, trying to think of the right words to say. "I liked it." He wanted to face palm himself. You di'kut, he thought, of all things to say, you had to say that!_

_She giggled, "I liked it too." He rearranged himself and slid his arm around her waist, pulling her towards him. She came willingly and they resumed their earlier position. _

_He rested his chin on the top of her head. She smelled like soap and some type of fruit. It was intoxicating. "I never thought I'd say this, but I miss temple life."_

_"Really? Fire'sspray hates it."_

_She laughed her laugh, "I know. She doesn't know how lucky she is." They sat in silence for a few minutes. "Okay, confession time: I don't miss temple life. But I do wish I was going back. I'd like to get to know you better."_

_He hadn't known she felt that way too. "I'd like to also, but we're leaving tomorrow."_

_"I know," she said. "I don't think I'll see you again while this war is going on."_

_"I don't know if I'll still be around when the war is over." They sat in silence. "We should probably head in," he said._

_"Yeah," they both got up and began to walk in. "Rex." He turned and faced her. "If you ever need help... or something goes wrong, I'll be here. I move around a lot but if anything major happens I think we should meet here. I can give you my com number."_

_He smiled, "Here then. I'd like that." She told him her number and he memorized it._

_"Don't forget," she said._

_"I won't," he replied. "What guy could forget a number that was given to him by someone like you?" he asked teasingly._

_She wrinkled her nose and smiled back. He leaned in and kissed her forehead. "I'll miss you," he said._

_"I'll miss you too." They held hands until they reached the front door and then they let go. But in between them was the promise that they would return._

* * *

Tiger sighed, this mission had been crazy. Neon enjoyed picking on the 566th and he was picked on in turn. His green neon hair had become normal sight around the ship. Tiger never thought he'd miss Neon like this. Maybe he should go down and visit Neon. He was bound to be bored. He still couldn't believe that Neon had broken his arm. He got up and walked towards the medbay. He walked in and saw Neon sitting up and yelling something in Mando'a. Another troop he didn't recognize yelled back. He looked over at Topaz.

"How long has this been going on?"

"Long enough." Topaz whistled sharply and the men put their hands over their ears. "Listen up ya'll. I'm not going to repeat myself." Every eye in the medbay was on her. "I'm not going to tolerate any arguing in my medbay. You want to argue, take it somewhere else. Is that clear?" No one answered. Her eyes spouted blue flames. "Is THAT CLEAR?"

"SIR, YES SIR!" they replied. She walked into the back of the medbay and Tiger followed her.

"I think you got your point across."

"Are you down here to tell me the obvious or for another reason?" she asked.

"I originally came down to visit Neon but I'm not sure that's a wise idea right about now."

"It isn't. He isn't in the best of moods. Does he have something he normally does when he's inactive?"

"Other than drive us all crazy?" She smiled at him. "Not that I know of. He'll talk to people but not if he's in a bad mood."

"Have you ever talked to him when he's in a bad mood?"

"Yeah; once or twice. All he ever says is something about Rodney. Not sure who Rodney is."

"His brother who died on Geonosis." They both turned toward the new voice. Tara was standing in the door way.

_"_When did you arrive?" Tiger asked.

"A few minutes after you did," Tara replied. "I talked with the men; they shouldn't give you any more trouble Topaz. If they do, tell me."

"No problem, Tara. That I can do."

"Are you ready to go back, Tiger?" Tara asked.

"You bet, General." Tara rolled her eyes at the title.

"Me too. I'm going back up now." She smiled deviously, "Have fun you two."

Tiger and Topaz looked at each other quizzically and then the meaning sank in. "She's bad," Topaz stated. "What would make her think we like each other?"


	33. Why me?

** Thanks to Aurora Lunar 0Love This0, captainrexbest35 and Neon Templar for reviewing! Please review! I live on reviews! :D R  
**

* * *

_Why me?_ he thought. _Why ME?_

* * *

"Sands! Hey, SANDS!"

Sands looked up from his holo-book, "Yeah?"

"Do you know where Del is?"

"Probly the Senate. Why?"

"Cause. The council needs to talk to her about some debriefing. She isn't picking up her com so they sent a padawan who told Don, who told me."

"So you're going to tell me," Sands said.

"Right. Don't you love the chain of command?" Grate/ Jamando, asked.

"Yeah, I do." There was silence as they stared at each other for a few minutes. "Soo what do you want me to do?"

"Get your butt over there and get her back here!"

"Okay. I'll try."

"Do or do not, there is no try," Jamando said, in his best Yoda impersonation.

Sands rolled his eyes and left.

The good thing about being the only blond haired, blue eyed clone is that no one noticed that he was a clone. Here, he was just an average citizen making his way through life. A couple of girls giggled and waved at him. He pretended he didn't notice them. It wasn't that he didn't like girls, he did. But these girls were flirts. Not the type of girl he was looking for. Looking around here he didn't feel cynicism coming over him. Unlike other clones, he didn't suspect every person here as a spy or killer. Sure, he saw people that probably had killed, but this was Coruscant. That was to be expected. He was on guard but relaxed. He was ready for a fight but he wasn't looking at everyone like they were the ones who were going to start it. He turned the corner and the Senate building came back into view.

The Senate building. It never failed to impress him. It was so... regal. It also made him wary, these were the people that helped order his brothers to their deaths. He wished he was a little more like Jamando. _He_ knew where all his squad-mates were. Three of them were in the 566th and the other in the 212th under General Kenobi. Sands only knew where one was... Alarm. He'd have to have Neon help him find his other brothers.

Back to finding the General. He knew where she should be... but she never seemed to be there. Maybe he'd get lucky and only have to look for half an hour. He smirked at his dry humor. Ahh, there she was. Right where she should be, good.

"General, the council has been looking for you." She didn't turn around, a warning alarm went off in his head. "General?" He reached out hesitantly and touched her shoulder. She turned and he said the first thing that popped into his head. "You're not my general!" He instantly smacked himself mentally. _You Di'kut!_

"No I'm not," she smiled. "You must be looking for Tara."

"Ummm, yeah. I mean, yes Sir, I am," he said, trying get his brain out of the fog it was in. She gave him a funny look which then changed into an amused look. _Why me?_ he thought. _Why ME?_

"You don't need to be formal around me. I'm no one important. Just a handmaid," her green eyes sparkled with amusement.

"Do you know where Tara is?" he asked, finally succeeding in thinking like normal.

"No, I don't. I've been looking for her too." The sunlight caught her brown hair, picking out certain strands and making them look gold colored.

_Brown hair, green eyes... she's one of Tara's handmaids. No wonder she looks so much like her._ "You're one of Tara's handmaids."

"Yes. I'm Katrina." She held out her hand and he shook it, mentally smacking himself for not figuring that out earlier. "So, what's your name?"

"Pardon?"

"What's your name?"

"I'm a clone."

"I know. But I don't like that term. Who are you?"

"Lieutenant Sandstorm of the 56th, Sir." _Grrr, can't I ever function like normal?__ If I'm looking for Tara I must be from the 566th. Dur!_

"Do you die your hair?"

Sands was taken aback, "Umm, no."

"Oh, you're the blond one." _The blond one? _

"Yeah, that's me."

"Well, I'm going to look for Tara." She started walking and he stood there trying to figure out what just happened. She turned around, "Are you coming?"

"Yeah." He caught up with her and they walked side by side. Every few seconds he could feel her staring at him. He'd look at her and she'd look away. _General, where are you? Now would be a very good time to show up.  
_

_Sands?_ His eyes bugged, he hadn't expected someone to reply to his thoughts.

_That was just creepy_, he thought.

_You're telling me? _came the reply.

_That did not just happen._

_Umm, yeah, it did. How did you do that?_

_Do what?_

_Talk to me? I didn't initiate the conversation. I was sitting here studying when all of the sudden your voice is in my head. How in blazes did you do that?_

_I have no idea. You're sure you didn't do it._ A glare came flying through their connection. _Okay, you didn't do it._

_Let's talk about this later. What'd you call me for?_

_Show up and I'll tell you._ He felt her presence vanish and noticed that Katrina was giving him a weird look.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"No, you just looked really funny there for a second."

"Yeah, I found Tara. She'll be here shortly."

"What? How do you know that?"

"I just talked to her."

"No you didn't."

"Yeah, I did. Not sure how but I was definitely talking to her."

"You talked to her through the force?" Katrina's look was a cross between amazed and horrified.

"Umm, no, yes... maybe?" he said, looking sheepish.

"Wow, I gotta know. Are you force sensitive?"

"I have no idea. One of my brothers is."

"I know. I heard about that. Don wasn't it?"

"Yeah."

"Hey, what's up?" asked Tara.

"He talked to you through the force," Katrina stated.

"Yeah, I noticed," Tara's eyes drifted to Sands.

"The Jedi Council is looking for you. Something about a debriefing."

"Naturally. Sands, meet me later?"

"Barracks?"

"Yeah, where the 566th normally hangs out."

"Okay, around 1625?"

"Sounds good. See ya later Katrina," Tara said hugging her. "Sands, you should show her around the barracks. She's never been there." She grabbed her backpack, ran out of the room and jumped off the balcony.

"That wasn't a dramatic exit at all," Katrina said sarcastically.

"Was it just me or was she trying to hook us up?" Sands asked.

"She was definitely trying to hook us up."

"What about it?"

"What about what?"

"I could show you around. You could meet the rest of us crazies. Unless you have something else to do."

"Noo, I don't have anything to do. She knew that. I'd love to come with you." Katrina laughed at his startled look, "Unless you'd rather not."

"No. I'd love to show you around." He was pretty sure he was turning pink.


	34. Peace and Quiet

** Thanks to AL0LT0, captainrexbest35 and Neon Templar for reviewing! Please review! I live on reviews! :D  
**

* * *

Sands was sitting reading the same page of the same holo-book that he had been _trying_ to read for the past two days. Footsteps approached, "GO AWAY!" he yelled. Jalen stopped short, eyes wide and turned on his heel and left. Sands growled and went back to reading his book. Another set of footsteps approached, "I said GO AWAY!"

"You didn't say it to me." Sands looked up to see Neon's familiar frame taking up the doorway. However, Neon's hair was no longer... long. It was crew cut and... _blue_. Neon's hair was never ordinary colors. It was always green, or orange, or even pink and always Neon. But now...

"Your hair. What happened to it?"

"Wha?"

"Did Net and Laurie drag you to the barber again?"

"No, I opted to have it cut." He ran a hand through it, "Does it look bad?"

"No. It looks good. Did you also opt to have it dyed blue? It's not bolo-ball season, you know."

"Yeah, I know. I wanted it dyed this color."

"Any particular reason?"

"Yeah." Sands realized that meant something Neon didn't want to talk about and he let the issue alone.

"Who'd you have dye it? The barber didn't do that."

"He didn't cut my hair either."

"No?" Sands asked, perplexed. "Who did?"

"The general." Sands jaw dropped; Neon had said it like this was an everyday occurrence.

"I didn't know she could cut hair." _Or dye it._

"Well, she can."

"I noticed. Girlfriend out of town?"

"Yeah, out of planet is more like it. What about you?"

"Huh?"

"Where's your girlfriend?"

"My girlfriend? I don't have a girlfriend."

"Yeah, you do. The girl that was here with you a couple of days ago. Brown hair, green eyes; looks like our general. Goes by the name of Katrina Gottier. Any of this ringing a bell?"

"Yeah, but she's not my girlfriend."

"She's a girl right?"

"Yeah."

"And she's your friend."

"I guess."

"Then she's your girlfriend."

Sands rolled his eyes as Neon smiled at his humor. "Wow, that was just sad. You been hangin around Net?"

"I'll never tell."

"Eesh, you sound like Jamando."

"Thanks."

"That wasn't a compliment. What **did** you come in here for?"

"Oh, I came in to tell you that I located two of your three missing squad mates. One is some big shot officer and the other is a private in the..." Neon looked down at the datapad he held, "789th. They're still alive. Can't find the other one."

"He probably changed his name. Which two did you find?"

"Blank and Paper."

Sands laughed, "Try looking under the nickname 'Pen'."

"Pen?" Neon asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Yeah, they had a theme going on. Blank paper and a Pen."

"Oookay. Will do." They fell into silence and listened to what sounded like a brother coming down the hall. There was a girls voice joining the brothers and they saw Padawan Montrail and Jamando walking down the hall.

"Was it just me or were they holding hands?" Neon asked.

"I saw that too." They both looked at each other and Sands went back to reading his almost-forgotton book.

"That's against regs," Neon said.

"Yep," Sands replied.

"It's a big no-no."

"You got it."

"Aren't you going to report them?"

"No."

"Okay."

"Guys, guys!" Fuz ran in looking breathless. "Did you see Jamando and Padawan Montrail _holding hands_?"

"Yes."

"That's against the regs!" he exclaimed.

"Yep," they replied.

"It's a big no-no."

"You've got it."

"Are you going to report them?"

"No," they replied.

"**WHAT?**" he cried. "Why not?"

Sands looked up and shot Fuz an exasperated look. "I'm not getting in the way of true love. If she didn't want to hold his hand she wouldn't have been holding it." Sands went back to his book.

"Oh. So what are you doing?" Fuz asked.

Sands looked up and Fuz wished he hadn't said anything. Sands eyes were shooting blue sparks and he had that 'I'm going to hurt you of you keep bugging me so **back off!**' look on.

"He's reading a book. I'm standing around here being bored. Wanna find some other guys and play sabacc?"

"Sounds fun." They headed off and Sands sighed a mental sigh of relief. _Alone at last_, he thought.

"Hey Sands, have you seen Tara?"


	35. Training

**Thanks to AL0LT0, captainrexbest35 and Neon Templar for reviewing! Please review! I live on reviews! :D This chapter is just to prove that my soldiers are not indestructible. They do often get hurt. You just don't always hear about it.  
**

* * *

_Ct-76-9572 had been hoping the impossible hope that he would be able to go back to the 'room' he shared with his squadmates after training and sleep. However he knew that there was no way that would happen. He would end up helping patch up his squadmates and talking about the training they'd had that day. He paused and looked out the window at the never ending rain. Kamino was boring. Always the same. He'd read about other planets that had suns and moons. He'd even seen pictures of a few. He always wished that they were somewhere else. Someplace that didn't storm all the time. He hated storms. They always had to train during storms. At least he did. He, out of all his squadmates had been picked to train as an ARC trooper. Their training was intense and often painful. Many troopers didn't survive it. It was a high pressure situation. If you didn't focus on what you were doing you could cost a brother his life. He had learned how to handle the pressure early on in his life. It wasn't easy being different but it had taught him how to handle pressure._

_He was walking back to his room. He knew what awaited him... some of his brothers would undoubtedly make fun of him. They didn't mean any harm. They were just stressed and they took it out on him. He could live with that. He took his stress out on the training droids. Later, he'd probably take it out on real droids. After all, he was trained to be a part of the Republic's army. He noticed a couple of brothers standing in the hall. NULL troopers. He gave them a casual nod and they smirked at him. Most brothers were afraid of them. They were bigger, badder and stronger but he wasn't afraid. He couldn't afford to be. Besides, he knew they wouldn't harm their brothers. It would go against their way of life._

_He walked into his room and instantly every eye was on him. It was silent and everyone just stared at him._

_"What? No jokes?" he asked. "I'm disappointed."_

_"You haven't heard?" Ct-87-9638 said._

_"Heard what?"_

_"We're being split into battalions!" he said it like it was a curse._

_"So? Doesn't this happen to everyone?"_

_"Yeah, but this means we will probably never see each other again!" another brother added._

_"Oh come on; the facilities aren't THAT big."_

_"But that's not the only thing." said Ct-87-9638. "There are rumors that we're needed in battle."_

_"What?" he asked._

_"Another Jedi came today and since that there has been talk of getting ready for a battle!"_

_He sat down trying to process this train of thoughts. His mind was boggled. Sure, he was 24 to 25 physically but mentally he was only 13. "I guess we get ready and hope for the best," he said. Sands had no clue what was lying ahead of him._

* * *

Sitting in the barracks wasn't his idea of a good day but they had 'training' today. _Had to make sure those worthless clones were still in shape_, he thought, cynically. His eye caught a bit of movement to his left and he turned to see who, or what, it was. He instantly regretted the move when pain shot up the right side of his body. Light was rooting through his stuff looking for something. He finally found it and smiled.

Sands stared at the object, a holobook. He supposed it wasn't odd for his brother to be reading a holobook but it was something that only Exhaust and he had done in the past. Most of them only read orders or lists.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

Light looked over, "Going to read. That okay with you?"

Sands dismissed the sarcastic remark, "Why?"

"Because it's interesting."

"Okay."

"I was bored," Light said as an excuse.

"Where'd you get it?"

"The general." Sands rolled his eyes; it didn't surprise him.

"How'd you like 'training'?" Sands asked.

"That wasn't training. That was cruelty disguised as training," Light snarled. "Honestly! How am I supposed to fight droids when my left arm is stiff from being twisted? How was your training? I know we didn't get it as hard as the ARC troopers."

"It was okay."

"Why are you sitting here then?"

"Cause I want to."

"Yeah right."

"I'm not going to the medbay." Light didn't look surprised at this statement.

"I'm not planning on taking you to the medbay. But you should see someone."

"I know," Sands said.

"Come on."

"Where are we going?"

"To see the general." Sands followed him trying, in vain, not to limp. They walked through the long corridors in the Temple to, what everyone in the 566th knew, was Del's room. He knocked on the door and they both stood quietly trying to hear footsteps.

"I don't think she's home," Light said. "I don't hear anything." The door opened but no one was there. "Umm, General? Are you here?" Light asked in a tiny voice. "Let's go!"

"Wait, don't leave." The voice sounded like Del's but it had an accent. A figure walked to the door, "Come in. Sorry about the mess." They walked in and looked around. _What mess?_ Sands thought. _The room's spotless!_ Light looked over at him and raised an eyebrow. Sands nodded, showing that they were thinking the same thing. Tara walked further into the room. It was set up as a living room. It had a couch and two chairs. The couch's back was to them and the chairs were diagonal to the couch and straight across from each other. Fire was sitting on the couch looking at a holobook.

"Hi," Fire called. Sands eyes flitted to the floor. _Ahh, that would be the mess,_ he thought. Holobooks were all over the floor in stacks and piles, some falling over.

"What are you doing?" Light asked.

"Researching," Fire replied. Light nodded and sat down in a chair. Sands stood, debating whether he should sit or stand. He knew that sitting would cause him pain but standing would bother his legs. He decided that he would stand, so he stood next to where Fire'sspray was sitting and read over her shoulder.

"You are in pain," Tara said, breaking the silence. Light and Fire both looked around to see who she was talking too. Sands didn't have to.

"Yeah, but it will go away."

"No it won't." Sands, Light and Fire all gave her confused looks. "Turning hurts you as does sitting, signs of a broken rib. You had training this morning so you probably have more than one. Broken ribs are not to be dismissed lightly. If they have moved out of position they can easily puncture your lung. Sit," she said pointing at a chair opposite the one Light was sitting on.

Sands sat and Tara stood next to the chair. She held her hands so they were hovering right above Sands left shoulder, one hand on top of the other. Sands closed his eyes and crossed his legs Indian style. If he concentrated he could feel the force flowing from her into him. He could feel her healing the left part of his collar bone and then he could feel her working on his ribs. It was creepy yet oddly fascinating. He focused on finding his broken ribs. There were two on his left side one on his right. One of the ones on the left side was broken and had moved out of it's place and the other two were broken but still in the spot they should be. He 'see' her trying to move the broken one back into it's place but her energy was running out. He focused on helping her move it and between the two of them it slowly moved back into it's proper place. They helped it mend a little and then helped the other two mend a little. They were still fractured but they had started healing.

He opened his eyes and saw that Tara had done the same. "Feeling better?" she asked. He nodded yes. It had hurt but he was feeling better now that it was back in place. Tara looked pale; like she was going to pass out.

"I think you should sit down."

"Agreed," she replied, moving toward the couch. Sands tried to stand but found he couldn't move his one leg. His knee had locked up on him. This had been happening since Shili. _A result of having part of an Laat/i crushing you,_ he thought. He was surprised that he had lived. He had been partly paralyzed because of the crash. The paralysis was slowly wearing off but his knees locked every once in a while.

"Sands, you okay?" Tara asked.

"My knee locked," he replied.

Tara's hands hovered over his right knee and he could feel her coaxing his muscles to relax. They did and his knee unlocked and he stood.

"Do you have training tomorrow?" she asked, flopping onto the couch.

"Yes," he replied.

"I'll see if I can't get them to excuse you from it."

"And if they don't?" he asked.

"You won't go anyway. You can't train with three broken ribs and a fractured clavicle."

"A what?" Light asked. "What's a clavicle?"

"It's his collar bone," Fire said. "What's wrong with your arm?"

"What?" asked Light.

"Your arm; you've been holding it weird," she said.

"Oh, I twisted it."

"May I?" she asked.

"Sure, why not?" Fire mimicked Tara's stance and closed her eyes. Light felt the muscles relax and loosen. A few minutes later she opened her light blue eyes. "Better?"

"Much," he replied.

Sands checked his crono, "I think it's time for dinner."

"Agreed," Light said. "We'll see you later Del."

"See ya," she replied.


	36. Meeting

**********I'm back! Not that I went anywhere. Just stalled out for a couple of weeks. :D **

* * *

Laurie closed his eyes as his cheeks flushed in embarrassment. He couldn't believe this was happening to him. He opened them again to look at the waitress. She was standing there with a now empty pot of caf. The contents of which had been unceremoniously dumped on him when he ran into her. She was somewhere between chagrin and melting into the floor.

"I'm SO sorry," she grabbed a towel and handed it to him.

A female Twi'lek waitress looked over and Laurie could swear she gave the other waitress a smug look. An older female Twi'lek hurried over, "What happened here?"

"It was my fault. I wasn't watching where I was going," she answered. Laurie was going to counter that but the older Twi'lek replied to that.

"Kath, we can't afford to lose you. You're a good worker but recently you've been elsewhere. You have to start focusing on your job. Can you do that?"

"Yes, Karina."

"Good, let's not have an accident like this again," Karina walked away and Kath turned to Laurie.

"Sorry about that. My mind hasn't been on my job recently."

"That's alright, I wasn't watching where I was going."

She smiled lightly at him and extended her hand, "I'm Kathrine. My friends call me Kath."

"Laurie," he replied as the shook hands.

"You're a soldier," she stated.

"What was your first clue?" he asked, motioning toward several other clones sitting throughout the café.

"And here I thought sarcasm was a dying art, silly me," she replied. "Look, I have to go. Table 3 needs a caf refill." She looked apologetically at his caf stained shirt and he smirked at her. She walked to the back and got another pot of caf and walked to table three. He watched to see what her section was and once he figured it out he picked a table in it.

While he was waiting he watched her. She was a Felacatian. You didn't see them very often because they didn't handle hyperspace travel very well and most of them preferred to stay on their home planet Felacat. Her fur was a charcoal color and her hair was black. He imagnined that she'd be hard to spot at night.

Kathreen noticed someone new was sitting in her section. "Good evening; what can I get... YOU!" Her smile changed into a frown as she glared at him.

"Yes, me. The caf smells wonderful. I think I'd like a cup." He smiled, his eyes sparkling with humor. She was hard pressed not to smile so she frowned at him. "Sorry, I couldn't resist," he said.

"Sure you could. It's easy; just don't talk," she marched away, her spine stiff. She got to the kitchen and then turned around and walked back.

He looked slightly taken aback and then he smirked when he saw her come back, "Your mouth run away with you too?"

"Yes. I'm sorry; I shouldn't have said that."

He shrugged, "It happens to the best of us."

"So; what can I get you?"

"Caf," he replied, his eyes sparkling again. Kath mentally face-palmed. It was a good thing he found her amusing.

"You were serious about that?" _Uggg,_ she thought, _what a stupid thing to say! Of course he's serious._

He laughed, "Yes I was."

"Anything else?"

He shook his head, "That's all for now."

"I'll be back in a few minutes." She saw that another table needed more caf. She walked over and filled their cups; gave another table their check and then gave Laurie his caf. She was kept busy for the next half-hour. When she got a chance to look over at Laurie's table, she found he was gone. A part of her was disappointed but she quelched the feeling. During the rest of her shift she couldn't stop thinking about him. His laugh, his smile, and his eyes. She kept trying to think about something else but he always re-entered her thoughts. She finished her shift and was almost out the door when she heard someone calling her name.

"Kath. Kath!"

She turned to see Kyle, one of the bus-boys, "Hi Kyle, what'd I forget?"

"Nothing. There was a note for you on one of the tables."

_Oh great, _he thought, _another guy is hitting on me!_ She took the piece of paper from Kyle, thanked him and then walked home. She put her tips away and decided she should read the note. It was simple and written in neat handwriting.

"Kathrine, thanks for the time. I haven't been that amused for a long time. You definetly put me in my place. In a good way of course :)."

It wasn't signed but she knew who wrote it. She wondered if she'd ever see him again. It was highly unlikely and even if she did, she doubted he'd remember her. She dropped the note into her desk drawer and burried it under miscelanious junk.


	37. Avoiding

**********I'm back. SW marathon with my brothers! :) Love it!**

* * *

Sands didn't understand this feeling. Every time she was around he felt... different. He wasn't sure what to make of this. Maybe he just needed sometime alone by himself. Yeah, that sounded like a good idea. Some time alone to think through his thoughts and get some idea of what this was.

"Sands! How nice to see you!" _Ahhh! She's everywhere!_

"Ummm, hi, how are you?"

"Good, you?"

"Alright." Why was he always so tongue tied around her? It drove him nuts.

"Well, I'll see you later."

"Bye." Sands mentally face-palmed, why couldn't he say anything intelligence when she was around. She had to think he was an idiot. He decided that he just needed some time off. He figured he'd find a couple of guys and hang out. Several men of the 566th who's girlfriends were off planets or weren't busy hung out at night and played sabacc, poker, pool and talked with each other. Right now he needed a break.

* * *

Katrina wasn't sure what to think of him. From all reports she'd received, he had been an excellent strategist and an amazing soldier. He had been one of the army's best. He was also supposed to have been terminated half a year ago because he was unfit for duty after a Laat/i crash on Shili. However, he had disappeared the day before his termination and hadn't appeared since. At least not in GAR records. She had a feeling that Del-Tara had something to do with his disappearance.

When she had first discovered that their lieutenant was supposedly terminated she had thought he was lying. But Tara would have been able to detect if he was lying to her. So she dug deeper into the GAR's records. She found that the Sandstorm she had met looked exactly like the old one. Blonde hair, blue eyes, same height, completely identical.

However, because she found that the old lieutenant had disappeared the day before his reconditioning and that he had never been replaced, she came to the conclusion that the clone was one and the same with the original.

He seemed friendly and funny, at least from Tara's reports. Madrid seemed to like him a lot. The 12 year old assistant constantly asked Tara about him and called him her Ciera (Brother). However, when she was around he seemed tongue-tied and on edge. She'd seen him around his brothers and he seemed friendly enough.

Now that she knew he was the original Sandstorm, she just had to figure out why he was acting so weird around her.


	38. Briefing

**********Thanks to captainrexbest35 for reviewing! :) We haven't been in a battle for five chapters. Time for another one. :)  
**

* * *

Del-Tara shifted to her other foot. This briefing was taking WAY too long. Obi-Wan was explaining the situation again. She could feel the clones eagerness to get out of there and it was effecting her through the force. She felt antsy and ready to get out of there. Skywalker shot her a look that said, 'Sand still!'. She rolled her eyes at him and looked pointedly at the troopers. He got the point and smirked at Rex, who was watching Cody nod off. Cody woke and Tara could tell he was fighting to keep himself awake. Obi-Wan finished with a warning about being careful, the planet was tricky. Master Windu nodded and the council spoke in unison, "May the Force be with you."

"And with you," they echoed back. Tara smirked at the thought of her and Skywalker working together again.

"Amused?" Anakin asked.

"Slightly. It'll be nice to work with you again."

Anakin smiled, "We haven't had a mission together since... since your last mission as a padawan."

"Yeah, forever ago," she teased.

"It's only been half a year," he replied.

"Yeah, I know," she smiled. "But it's been a long half a year."

"Tell me about it. I never though I'd break my leg in two spots in one mission."

"That's what happens when you get reckless."

He grinned, "Leave it to you to point that out. Besides, you're no less reckless than me."

"In the council's eyes anyway. It makes me wonder why they put us together for this mission."

Anakin shrugged, "I guess they need some Jedi Knights who can pull off the impossible."

Tara smiled, "Or someone who is good enough to go on a suicide mission and come out alive. I think we both can do that."

He snorted, "You think? We're the only two Jedi Knights who they stick with the impossible missions."

"That's because we're both reckless to a certain degree. As much as the council disagrees with the way I handle my men, they can't argue with the results."

"Yeah, people may think the 566th's Echo Company is crazy but everyone is jealous of your record."

"Our record?"

"Yeah, of never losing a man."

She smiled, "The seps just haven't figured out our armor's weakness yet. You gotta admit those tinnies aren't the brightest bulbs in the box."

"Well, I'd better go and get ready." Tara nodded and started to walk away. "Hey," Anakin called. Tara turned and cocked her head inquisitively. "I'm ready to let go."

Tara smiled deeply at him and continued on her way. She was glad he was finally at the point where he could accept it and let it go. It meant he was on the road to healing. She just hoped nothing too earth shattering would happen on this mission. She wasn't sure he'd recover if someone close to him died.


	39. Mixed up

**********Thanks to captainrexbest35 for reviewing! :) We haven't been in a battle for five chapters. Time for another one. :)  
**

* * *

Topaz frowned. How did this order get mixed up? She tapped her foot impatiently and watched the clerk squirm under her gaze. It felt good to have some power. She was ticked at the guy. Jayshon had headed over earlier to find out why they received the wrong order of medical supplies and this guy had ignored him and finally told him to "Deal with it". By the time Jayshon had gotten back to the medbay of the Caiden where the rest of the medical crew was waiting, he was steaming. Topaz had headed out to deal with the problem and like always, as soon as he realized she was a civilian worker, he got right on it.

She was furious at the whole system. She should have to come over here to deal with something that Jayshon or one of the other medics should have been able to handle. _But Noooo, this system is corrupt. They don't think clones can do anything, _she thought.

"Did you find it yet?" she asked.

"Yes, it appears to have been switched out with the 501st's Torrent Company's order."

Topaz rolled her eyes, _figures. _"And you couldn't tell Jayshon this why?" she asked.

"Who?"

"He was here earlier asking about the shipment."

"Oh, we need conformation from a real medic."

"He is a real medic! I shouldn't have to follow up on..." Topaz trailed off and her eyes narrowed, "You don't need conformation. Otherwise you would have asked for my ID."

The clerk squirmed in earnest now, his eyes darting to the door as if looking to escape.

"They told you to say that if you were questioned, didn't they?"

He nodded, looking uncomfortable with the whole situation.

Topaz rolled her eyes, "Next time, just let him do it." She started to walk away and then turned and looked over her shoulder, "And another thing; don't lie. It won't help you." _Now to go find the 501st and switch the orders back, _she thought.


End file.
